I 


Stem  t^e  &,i^tati^  of 

(profeBBor  ^dmuef  (Uliffer 

in  (gtemot)?  of 

^ubQc  ^amud  (Wither  QSrecftintibge 

(J?re0enfeb  6^^ 

^antuef  (gXiffer  QSrecfeinribge  feong 

to  f  5e  &i6rari?  of 

(Princeton  ^^eofogicaf  ^eminarg 


BS  657  .F3  1833 
Fairholme,  George 
General  view  of  the  geology 
of  Scripture 


/  / 


GENERAL  VIEW 


GEOLOGY  OF   SCRIPTURE 


Aj^U'^iAl^ 


GENERAL  VIEW 


GEOLOGY  OF  SCRIPTURE, 


IN  WHICH  THE  UNERRING  TRUTH 


INSPIRED  .  NARRATIVE 


OF  THE  EARLY  EVENTS  IN  THE  WORLD  IS  EXHIBITED,  AND  DISTINCTLY 

PROVED,  BY  THE  CORROBORATIVE  TESTIMONY  OF 

PHYSICAL  FACTS,  ON  EVERY  PART  OF 

THE  earth's  SURFACE. 


y 


By  GEORGE  FAIRHOLME,  Esq. 


"The  great  danger  of  Philosophy  is  its  application — not  to  things  that  are,  or 
may  be,  but  to  the  speculations  for  the  constructure  of  things  that  are  not.  Men 
of  science  too  often  imagine  vanities,  and  support  them  by  plausible  arguments, 
until,  lost  in  the  wonderment  of  their  supposed  discoveries,  and  unable  to  apply 
them  to  simple  truth,  their  future  undertakings  and  writings  avouch  the  scepti- 
cism of  their  bewildered  minds." 


PHILADELPHIA: 
KEY  &  BIDDLE,  23  MINOR  STREET. 

T.  K.  COLLINS  &  CO.  PBINTEHS. 

1833. 


,^'i 


J  f^fiX 


06U>uOL 


CONTENTS. 


IXTHODUCTOnx   ClIAPTER.  -  -  -  -  -         13- 


CHAPTER  I. 

Our  Ideas  of  the  real  extent  of  Objects  on  the  Eartli's  Sm-face 
often  erroneous.  True  height  of  Mountains,  Depths  of 
the  Ocean.  Of  Mines.  Of  Volcanic  Foci.  Eruptions  of 
Mud  containing  Fish.  Volcanoes  only  in  Secondary  For- 
mations. True  scale  on  which  to  view  the  Earth.  Form 
of  the  Earth.  Newton's  Demonstrations. — Gravity  and  Cen- 
trifugal Force.  False  Inferences  di^awn  from  Newton's 
Hypothesis.  True  Primitive  Creations.  Density  of  the 
Earth.  Reflections  arising  from  the  Subject. — The  Days 
of  Creation.  -  -  -  -  -  -      32 


CHAPTER  II. 

The  Second  Day  of  the  Creation.  The  Firmament,  or  At- 
mosphere. Atmospheric  Phenomena.  Magnetism  and 
Electi'icity.        -  -  -  -  -  -        -      46 


CHAPTER  III. 

The  gatliering  together  of  the  Waters.  The  Sublimity  of 
this  Fiat  of  the  Creator  not  sufficiently  understood.  The 
Transition  Rocks.      -  -  -  -  -  -51 


CHAPTER  IV. 

Constant  Changes  in  Nature.     Origin  of  Secondary  Forma- 


VI  CONTENTS. 

tions.  Primitive  Soils,  for  the  Nourishment  of  a  Primitive 
Vegetation.  Constant  Circulation  in  the  Fluids  of  the 
Earth.  Springs,  Brooks,  and  Rivers.  The  Tides.  Their 
Cause  explained.  The  Currents  of  tlie  Ocean,  and  their 
present  existing  System.  Effects  naturally  arising  from 
these  powerful  Causes.  -  -  -  -  -       57 


CHAPTER  V. 

General  Nature  of  the  Formations  on  the  Eartli.  Origin  and 
Progress  of  Secondary  Formations.  Causes  of  Stratification 
in  Secondary  Rocks.  Such  Deposits  hecome  gradually 
Mineralized.  Calcareous  Formations.  Salt  Deposits. 
Proof  of  Granite  not  being  an  Aqueous  Deposit.  Second- 
ary Fonuations  now  in  Progress  in  the  Bed  of  the  Ocean.         69 


CHAPTER  VI. 

The  Deluge.  Traditional  Evidence  of  that  Event.  Erro- 
neous Ideas  commonly  entertained  respecting  it.  Distinct- 
ness of  Scripture  on  the  Subject.  Evidence  from  Scripture. 
Evidence  from  the  Ancient,  though  Apocryphal,  Book  ^of 
Enoch.  Theories  of  Philosophy  on  the  Subject.  The  most 
probable  Cause  of  tliat  destructive  Event.  -  -      83 


CHAPTER  VH. 

Mosaic  Account  of  the  Deluge.  The  Mountains  of  Ararat. 
Origin  of  that  remai-kable  Name.  Effects  during  the  De- 
luge. Action  of  the  Tides,  and  the  Currents,  during  the 
Deluge.  Their  Effects  upon  Organic  Bodies.  Diluvial 
Strata.  Abatement  of  the  Waters.  Renewal  of  the  Face 
of  the  Earth. 93 


CHAPTER  Vm. 

General  View  of  the  existing  Surface.  Force  of  the  Waves. 
Principles  of  Stratification.  Cavous  Lime-stone.  Gibral- 
tar.     The   Plains    of  the   Earth  ;    of   South  America  ;    of 

-  Afi-ica  ;  of  Asia  ;  of  Em'ope.  Result  of  this  View.  Chalk 
Basins.  That  of  Paris  a  guide  to  all  similar  Basins.  Salt 
Deposits.  Coal  Formations.  Evidences  of  Coal  being  a 
Marine,  and  not  a  Lacustrine  Formation.     -  -  -     104 


CONTENTS.  Vll 


CHAPTER  IX. 


Organic  Remains.  Evidences  derived  from  them.  Erroneous 
Theories  of  continuous  Stratification.  Diluvial  Fossil  Re- 
mains. Diluvial  Origin  of  Coal.  Unfounded  Theories  on 
this  Subject.  The  Belgian  Coal  Fields.  Tropical  Produc- 
tions in  Polar  Regions.  Buffon's  Theory.  High  importance 
of  the  Evidence  of  Fossils.  Natural  and  unavoidable  Mode 
of  Transport.  Instances  in  proof.  Buoyant  nature  of  Bo- 
dies after  Death.  Rate  at  which  they  might  have  been 
Tx'ansported.    The  thick-skinned  Animals  floated  longest.       133 


CHAPTER  X. 

High  importance  of  the  Evidence  of  Fossils.  Siberian  Mam- 
moth. The  entire  Elephant  of  the  Lena.  Theories  found- 
ed on  this  Specimen,  unsupported  by  Facts.  Consistent 
Mode  of  accounting  for  Tropical  Productions  in  cold 
Climates.  Unchanged  Condition  of  the  Climates  of  the 
Earth.  Italian  Deposits.  Monte  Bolca.  Fossils  on  the 
Coast  of  Norfolk.  Formations  of  the  South  of  England. 
The  same  view  extended  to  the  Continent.  -  -       156 


CHAPTER  XI. 

The  Cave  of  Kirkdale.  Dr.  Buckland's  Theory  founded  on 
its  Fossil  Remains.  Contradictory  nature  of  this  Theory. 
Fossil  Bones  from  the  Hymalaya  Glaciers  ;  and  from  the 
Heights  of  South  America.  Natural  Mode  of  accounting 
for  them.  The  Habits  of  the  Elephant.  His  most  perfect 
Form.  His  love  of  the  Water,  and  of  a  Swampy  and 
Woody  Country.  Habits  of  the  Rhinoceros.  Cuvier's 
Opinion  of  Fossil  Remains.  Inconsistency  of  this  Opinion. 
Evidence  of  Astronomy.  Evidence  from  Fossil  Trees. 
Conclusive  natiu-e  of  this  Evidence.  Evidence  derived  i 
from  Peat  Moss.  Foot-marks  of  Antediluvian  Animals. 
Scratches  occasioned  by  the  Diluvial  Action.  Formation 
of  Valleys.  Scripture  alone  capable  of  explaining  these 
Evidences.  ______       172 


CHAPTER  XII. 

Elephants  clothed  with  Hair  and  Wool.  Existing  Instances  of 
this  Variety,  even  within  the  Tropics.  Probable  identity 
between  the  Mammoth  and  the  Asiatic  Elephant.  Cuvier's 
Theory  on   this   Subject,   inconsistent   with  Facts.      More 


VIU  CONTENTS. 

iiatm-al  Coiclusions.  Erroneous  Theories  respecting  Fos- 
sils. The  Mastodon  not  confined  to  tlie  Continents  of 
America,  as  commonly  supposed.  Instance  of  tJie  Great 
Mastodon  in  England.  Form  of  tlie  Tusks  of  the  Mastodon. 
Erroneous  Ideas  on  this  Subject.         -  -  -  -     204 


CHAPTER  XIII. 

Human  Fossil  Remains.  Why  they  cannot  be  so  numerous  as 
those  of  other  Animals.  Lime-stone*  Caves  and  Fissures. 
An  Example,  in  the  Cave  of  Gaylenreuth,  with  its  Fossil 
Contents.  Dr.  Buckland's  Theory  of  Caves  and  Fissures. 
Human  Fossils  found  at  Guadaloupe  ;  also,  at  Durfort. 
Great  Fossil  Deposit  in  Spain,  containing  Hiunan  Bones. 
Quarries  at  Kosti-itz,  containing  Human  Bones.  Natiu'al 
Conclusions  from  the  above  accomit.  Dr.  Buckland's  Con- 
clusion respecting  Kostritz,  inconsistent  with  other  parts 
of  his  Theory.  Caves  and  Fissures  in  Limestone.  Gene- 
ral spread  of  Diluvial  Effects.         -  -  -  -      219 


CHAPTER  XIV. 

On  the  Situation  of  Paradise  ;  together  with  both  Critical  and 
Geological  Evidences  of  the  spurious  Character  of  that  de- 
scriptive account  of  it,  found  in  all  modern  copies  and  trans- 
lations of  tlie  Book  of  Genesis.  -  -  -  -     24& 


CHAPTER  XV. 

On  the  Creation  of  Mankind.  The  Origin  of  Language. 
What  was  the  Primitive  Language?  High  Probability  in 
favour  of  the  Hebrew.  On  the  Diversity  of  Coloiu"  among 
Mankind.  Testimony  of  tlie  Jews  on  this  Subject.  Origin 
of  the  American  Indians.  Their  Traditions  and  Customs. 
Their  Religious  Belief.  Religious  Rites  in  tlie  Interior  of 
Africa.  On  Sacrifice.  TraditionsandBelief  in  the  Friend- 
ly Islands.  Historical  Evidence  of  a  common  descent 
from  Noah.  On  the  Indentity  of  Words  among  the  most 
distant  Nations.  On  the  universal  use  of  a  Decimal  gra- 
dation.    Natural  Inference  from  all  these  Considerations.         258 


CONCLUSIONS 

To  wliich  we  are  naturally  led  by  the  general  Tenor  of  the 
foregoing  Inquiry.  -  -  -  -  _       277 


PREFACE. 


In  presenting  the  following  pages  to  the  judgment  of  the 
world,  I  have  reason  to  fear,  that  the  very  title  of  the  work 
will  excite,  in  the  minds  of  some,  feelings  by  no  means  fa- 
vourable to  an  unprejudiced  perusal  of  it. 

I  am  fully  aware  of  the  objections  which  have  frequently 
been  raised  to  the  endeavours  to  connect  physical  facts  with 
the  details  of  scripture;  and  lam,  also,  aware  of  the  mischief 
that  has  sometimes  ensued  to  the  cause  of  religion,  from  the 
imprudent  or  unskilful  defence  made  by  those  whose  wishes 
and  intentions  w^ere  the  most  friendly  to  it. 

The  course  of  every  science  must  be  progressive ;  begin- 
ning in  faint  attempts  to  dissipate  the  obscurity  of  ignorance, 
and  gradually  advancing  towards  the  full  light  of  truth.  To 
this  usual  course,  the  science  of  geology  cannot  be  considered 
as  an  exception,  having  already  passed  through  some  of  its 
early  stages,  which  were  avowedly  marked  with  obscurity 
and  error.  During  these  stages  of  geological  ignorance,  I  am 
free  to  admit,  that  the  attempt  to  connect  the  supposed  dis- 
coveries in  the  physical  phenomena  of  the  earth,  with  the 
truths  announced  to  us  in  the  sacred  record,  could  not  but 
tend  to  injure  either  the  one  cause  or  the  other;  because, 
it  is  impossible  that  any  concord  can  exist  between  truth  and 
error.  In  this  case  it  unfortunately  happened  that  the  asser- 
tions of  philosophy  were  uttered  with  such  boldness,  and  so 

»  B 


X  PREFACE. 

supported  by  the  deccptious  evidence  cf  physical  facts  ^  seen  under 
a  false  light,  that  it  was  difficult  for  the  supporters  of  revela- 
lation,  ig-uorant,  as  they  generally  were,  of  the  nature  of  these 
facts,  to  hold  their  ground  with  success,  or  not  to  weaken 
their  own  cause  by  an  apparent  failure  in  its  support. 

The  necessity  which  has,  however,  been  acknowledged,  of 
rejecting  the  geolog-ical  theories  of  those  days,  opposed,  as 
they  were,  to  the  Mosaical  History,  was,  therefore,  a  fair 
source  of  hope  and  encouragement  to  such  as  advocated  the 
unerring  character  of  Inspired  Scripture.  It,  at  least,  left 
that  Mosaic  Narrative  uninjured  by  the  assault;  and  encou- 
raged a  hope,  that,  as  in  all  other  cases,  the  truth  would  finally 
appear  and  prevail. 

It  has  been  well  remarked,  by  the  able  author  of  a  work 
which  has  lately  appeared,  full  of  information,  and  written 
upon  the  soundest  principles, — "  It  is  now  thirty-five  years 
since  my  attention  was  first  directed  to  these  considerations. 
It  was  then  the  fashion  for  science,  and  for  a  large  part  of  tbe 
educated  and  inquisitive  world,  to  rush  into  a  disbelief  of  all 
written  Revelation ;  and  several  geological  speculations  were 
directed  against  it.  But  I  have  lived  to  see  the  most  hostile 
of  these  destroyed  by  their  own  as  hostile  successors ;  and  to 
observe,  that  nothing,  which  was  of  this  character,  however 
plausible  at  the  moment  of  its  appearance,  has  had  any  dura- 
tion in  human  estimation,  not  even  among  the  sceptical."* 

Of  late  years,  accordingly,  fact  after  fact  has  been  gradually 
accumulating ;  each  tending  to  temper  the  wild  character  of 
an  hypothetical  philosophy;  and  every  day  produces  some 
new  evidence  of  the  hasty  and  erroneous  conclusions  from 
physical  facts,  to  which  the  friends  of  Revelation  had  found 
it  too  often  necessary  to  succumb. 

Each  of  these  errors  in  philosophy  has  been  a  source  of  tri- 
umph to  the  cause  of  truth  ,•  and  the  time  is  gradually  ap- 
proaching, if  it  be  not  yet  fully  come,  when  the  trial  must  be 

*  Sacred  History  of  tlie  World,  by  Mr.  Sharon  Tm-ner. 


FREFACE.  XL 

brought  to  a  positive  issue,  and  when  those  undeniable  physi- 
cal facts,  seen  in  a  new  arid  more  correct  light,  will  lend  their 
aid  to  the  support  instead  of  to  the  destruction  of  our  confidence 
in  Scripture  ;  and  when  the  simplicity  and  consistency  of  the 
Geolog-y  of  Scripture,  will  make  us  regard  with  astonishment 
and  contempt,  schemes  that  could  so  long  have  exerted  so 
powerful  an  influence  over  our  reason  and  understanding. 

I  am  not  vain  enough  to  suppose  that  I  am  myself  qualified 
to  bring  about  so  desirable  an  end :  but,  as  it  is  the  duty  of 
every  one  to  lend  a  hand  to  the  demolition  of  error,  and  to 
the  encouragement  of  truth,  I  propose,  in  the  following  pages, 
to  endeavour,  in  as  clear  and  concise  a  manner  as  the  subject 
will  admit  of,  to  account  for  the  geological  structure  of  the 
upper  surface  of  our  earth ;  taking  the  Mosaical  History  for 
my  guiding  star,  to  be  kept  constantly  in  view  throughout  my 
course. 

A  great  part  of  my  object  will  be  attained,  if  I  can  succeed 
in  bringing  any  one  of  those  able  minds,  who  are  now  so  in- 
fluential in  the  geological  world,  to  view,  in  the  same  light  as 
myself,  the  phenomena  presented  to  our  examination  on  the 
earth.  I  am  persuaded,  that  many  of  those  individuals,  so 
distinguished  in  science,  are  not  so  wedded  to  a  party  or  theo- 
ry, as  not  to  acknowledge  and  retract  an  error  in  judgment,  if 
they  are  convinced  of  its  existence. 

Amongst  the  many  unquestionable  physical  facts,  there- 
fore, which  I  hope  to  be  able  to  produce  in  the  course  of  this 
treatise,  supporting,  in  a  remarkable  manner,  the  Sacred  His- 
tory of  the  early  events  in  the  world,  should  any  thing  be 
found  sufficiently  strong,  and  sufficiently  pointed,  to  shake 
the  foundations  of  many  of  the  present  received  opinions  in 
geology,  I  hope  that  some  one,  or  more,  of  those  gifted  indi- 
viduals, may  be  found  with  sufficient  candour  to  retrace  his 
steps,  and  to  lend  the  aid  of  a  powerful  and  active  mind  to  the 
cause  of  Revelation. 

It  is,  however,  to  be  feared,  that  there  are  many  geologists, 
(if  indeed  they  are  deserving  of  the  name,)  whose  great  de- 


XU  ^  PREFACE. 

light  in  this  subject  arises  from  the  play  of  fancy  its  consid- 
eration, under  a  false  view,  gives  rise  to;  and  who  would, 
consequently,  be  unwilling  to  yield  so  pleasing  a  source  of 
argument  and  hj^pothesis  to  the  plain  and  simple  course  of 
events  which  the  Mosaical  History  unfolds. 

Notwithstanding,  however,  the  opposition  I  may  meet  with 
from  such  theorists,  and  in  the  absence  of  more  able  advocates 
for  the  support  of  this  view  of  the  subject,  I  propose  to  follow 
the  course  I  have  laid  down  ;  and  I  feel  perfectly  confident, 
that  any  failure  in  the  proposed  plan  will  not  arise  from  the 
defective  nature  of  the  plan  itself,  or  from  the  materials  within 
my  reach  for  the  completion  of  it ;  but  merely  from  the  inabil- 
ity of  the  builder,  which  defect  may,  at  any  time,  be  remedied, 
by  the  same  materials  being  placed  in  the  hands  of  a  more 
able,  though  not  more  zealous  advocate  for  the  cause  of  truth. 

It  must,  however,  be  kept  in  view,  that  it  is  not  the  object 
of  this  treatise  to  enter  minutely,  or  in  detail,  into  the  nature 
and  history  of  each  particular  formation  in  the  upper  strata  of 
the  earth.  We  must  first  lay  a  solid  foundation  for  our  views, 
by  an  enlarged  and  general  system ,-  and  when  this  great  and 
primary  object  has  been  perfectly  attained,  we  may  then,  with 
safety,  examine  in  detail  the  many  interesting  objects  present- 
ed to  our  inspection,  without,  at  any  time,  however,  losing 
sight  of  the  great  first  principles  by  which  we  had  found  it 
expedient  to  be  guided  in  our  course.  We  may  thus  hope  to 
be  led,  by  the  full  light  of  day,  through  those  devious  paths, 
over  which  so  complete  a  twilight  has  hitherto  been  spread; 
and  we  shall,  undoubtedly,  have  the  gratification  of  finding, 
that  the  same  dignified  simplicity  and  truth  which  have  al- 
ways been  remarked  as  the  characteristics  of  the  other  parts 
of  Inspired  Scripture,  are  not  less  remarkable,  in  the  concise 
but  emphatic  details  of  the  early  events  of  the  world. 


GEOLOGY    OF    SCRIPTURE. 


INTRODUCTORY   CHAPTER. 

The  very  hijrh  interest  and  importance  of  the  history  of 
the  globe  which  we  inhabit,  will  be  admitted  by  all  whose 
minds  are  capable  of  entering-  beyond  a  mere  superficial 
consideration  of  the  objects  around  us  ;  and  the  principles  of 
curiosity,  and  the  innate  love  of  truth,  so  inherent  in  the  hu- 
man mind,  lead  us,  step  by  step,  from  the  consideration  of 
objects  themselves,  to  the  Great  First  Cause  from  whence 
all  things  have  originally  sprung. 

I  have  always  felt  an  ardent  desire  to  study,  and  endeavour 
to  follow  up,  the  theories  which,  from  time  to  time,  have 
been  formed  by  philosophy,  respecting  the  original  formation 
and  subsequent  changes  of  the  globe  which  sustains  us ;  and 
for  many  years  of  my  life  I  have  regularly  studied  almost 
every  thing  that  has  been  advanced  on  those  important  subjects. 
In  the  course  of  repeated  travels  over  a  great  part  of  Europe, 
I  have  also  had  many  opportunities  of  practically  forming  a 
judgment  of  the  more  visible  and  tangible  evidences  adduced 
in  support  of  those  theories.  I  have  never  felt,  however, 
either  on  the  subject  of  the  primitive  or  secondary  formations 
of  geology,  that  firm  conviction  of  the  truth  of  the  doctrines 
taught  by  the  great  leaders  in  science,  which  is  the  necessary 
<*.onsequence  to  be  looked  for  in  sound  and  truly  logical  rea- 
soning. In  the  very  opening  of  the  subject,  in  treating  of 
the  mode  of  Jirst  formations^  and  in  the  numerous  revolutions 
ivliich  are  said  subsequently  to  have  left  unquestionable  tra- 
B  2 


14  GEOLOGY  OF  SCRIPTURE. 

ces  upon  the  earth,  I  have  never  found  any  argument  advan- 
ced which  did  not  leave  the  mind  in  a  bewildered  and  uncer- 
tain state;  and  in  but  too  many  of  the  theories  of  philosophy 
on  these  subjects,  we  find  opinions  broached  by  the  very 
ablest  men,  so  extraordinary,  and  so  repulsive  to  our  reason 
and  common  sense^  that  w^e  are  compelled  at  once  to  reject 
them,  and  not  without  losing,  at  the  same  time,  some  portion 
of  that  hi^h  respect,  with  which  a  sound  philosophy  ought 
always  to  inspire  us. 

In  the  course  of  these  studies,  I  have  never  heen  able  to 
exclude  from  my  mind  those  lights  and  beacons  held  out,  as 
it  were,  for  our  guidance,  in  tracing  the  more  obscure  portions 
of  the  history  of  the  earth,  by  the  inspired  writings,  of  the 
truth  of  which,  on  other  subjects,  the  unprejndiced  mind  can 
entertain  not  a  shadow  of  doubt,  strengthened  as  they  are 
by  the  great  and  wonderful  events  which  have  been  foretold 
in  prophecy,  and,  subsequently,  literally  fulfilled  in  history. 
"The  great  problem  of  creation  has  been  said  to  be,  'Mat- 
ter and  MoTios given,  to  form  a  world;''  and  the  presumption 
of  man  has  often  led  him  to  attempt  the  solution  of  this  ab- 
surd problem.  At  first,  philosophers  contented  themselves 
with  reasoning  on  the  traditional  or  historical  accounts  they 
had  received  ;  but  it  is  irksome  to  be  shackled  by  authority, 
or  for  the  learned  to  be  content  with  the  same  degree  of  in- 
formation on  so  important  a  subject  as  the  most  ignorant  of 
the  people.  After  having  acquired,  therefore,  a  smattering  of 
knowledge,  philosophy  began  to  imagine  that  it  could  point 
out  a  much  better  way  of  forming  the  world,  than  that  which 
had  been  transmitted  by  the  consenting  voice  of  antiquity. — 
Epicurus  was  most  distinguished  among  the  ancients  in  this 
work  of  reformation,  and  produced  a  theory  on  the  principle 
of  a  fortuitous  concourse  of  atoms,  the  extravagant  absurdity 
of  which  has  alone  preserved  it  from  oblivion.  From  his 
day  to  the  present  time,  there  has  been  a  constant  succession 
of  systems  and  theories  of  the  earth,  which  are  now  swallowed 
up  by  those  of  a  chaotic  geology,  founded  on  chemistry ;  the 
speculations  of  which  have  been  attended  with  many  useful 
results,  in  so  far  as  they  proceed  on  the  principles  of  induc- 
tion ;  but  when  applied  to  solve  the  problem  of  creation,  or 
the  mode  of  first  formations,  will  only  serve,  like  the  systems 
of  their  forerunners  of  antiquity,  to  demonstrate  the  igno- 
rance and  presumption  of  man."* 

*  Edinburgh  Encyclopedia. 


GEOLOGY  OF  SCRIPTURE.  15 

Unfortunately  for  the  cause  of  truth,  and  of  sound  philoso- 
phy, the  study  of  geology  was  begun,  at  no  very  distant  pe- 
riod, in  a  school  where  the  only  histoi-y  which  could  he  con- 
sulted on  such  a  subject  was  neglected  and  despised,  on 
points  incomparably  more  important  than  scientific  inquiries. 
We  cannot,  therefore,  feel  surprise,  that  the  philosophy .  of 
that  period  should  have  excluded  from  its  view  the  concise 
but  most  important  geological  information  given  us  in  the 
first  part  of  the  Mosaical  history. 

Misled  by  the  theories  of  the  earth  set  forth  by  the  conti- 
nental philosophy  and  infidelity,  theories  so  wild  and  absurd, 
that  sober  reason  now  looks  upon  them  with  contempt; 
many  zealous  and  able  men  of  our  own  country  have  been 
hurried  away  by  the  torrent,  and  have  been  induced  to  follow 
out  their  own  researches,  under  the  delusive  and  prejudiced 
impressions  of  their  early  studies. 

Even  some  of  the  most  learned  divines,  without  any 
knowledge  of  geology,  have  considered  themselves  bound, 
in  translating  and  explaining  the  sacred  record,  to  submit  to 
the  dictates  of  philosophy,  and  by  taking  liberties  with  the 
original  text,  which  would  not  be  tolerated  in  translating 
any  classic  author,  have  thus  unintentionally  aided  the  cause 
of  scepticism  and  unbelief.  They  have  admitted  a  doubt  up- 
on a  great  and  fundamental  point,  in  which  the  inspired  his- 
tory, fairly  translated,  directly  opposes  them;  viz.  in  con- 
ceding to  the  theories  of  philosophy  the  duration  of  the  six 
days  of  the  creation.  As  it  was  contrary  to  these  theories  to 
admit  the  perfect  creation  of  all  things,  at  the  first,  by  an 
Almighty  Power,  it  became  necessary  to  search  for  such 
secondary  causes^  as  would,  by  the  mere  lavjs  of  nature,  as 
they  are  called,  have  produced  the  primitive  rocks,  as  we 
now  find  them.*     These  supposed  causes  were  discovered  in 

*  In  the  understanding  which  has,  in  a  manner,  been  tacitly  agreed 
\ipon  in  science,  carefully  to  exclude  every  allusion  to  the  Deity,  in 
the  contemplation  of  his  Avorks,  Ave  constantly  find  the  unmeaning 
name  of  JWiture  introduced,  even  in  pages  where  the  admiration  of 
HER  xvorks  would  make  it  appear  impossible  to  avoid  an  acknow- 
ledgment of  Mi7i  from  whom  all  things  have  arisen.  In  a  posthu- 
mous treatise  by  Milton,  we  find  the  following  just  reflections  on  this 
subject. — "Though  there  be  not  a  few  who  deny  the  existence  of 
God,  for  'the  fool  hath  said  in  his  heart,  there  isnoGod,'(Psal.  xiv.) 
yet  the  Deity  has  imprinted  on  tlie  human  mind  so  many  unquestion- 
able tokens  of  himself,  and  so  many  traces  of  him  are  found  through- 
out the  whole  creation,  that  no  one  in  his  senses  can  long  remain  ig- 


16  GEOLOGY  OF  SCRIPTURE. 

chemistry ;  and  as  it  was  found  by  chemists  that  various  sub- 
stances, under  certain  circumstances,  formed  themselves  into 
crystals,  and,  by  geologists,  that  granite,  and  other  primitive 
rocks,  had  a  crystalline  appearance  and  formation,  it  was  as- 
sumed as  a/ac/,  assisted  by  the  heathen  notion  of  a  chaos,  that 
all  matter  once  existed  in  a  confused  and  imperfect  mass,  from 
which,  in  the  course  of  some  indefinitely  long  period  of  time, 
our  globe,  in  all  its  crystalline  beauty,  must  h?ive  formed  it  self. 
We  are  no  where  informed  by  this  chaotic  philosophy  whence 
the  material  atoms,  of  which  this  imperfect  compound  was 
formed,  were  produced  ;  how  the  liquid  mass  was  held  togeth- 
er before  the  laws  of  attraction  and  of  gravity  were  ordained  ;  or 
by  what  power  the  laws  of  nature,  by  which  crystallization 
takes  place,  were  first  instituted. 

By  some  philosophers  of  the  French  school,  this  theory 
of  gradual  perfection  was  extended  even  to  animated  beings. 
They  considered  th^t  life,  in  its  lowest  shape,  was  first  gene- 
rated in  this  fermenting  mass,  and  that  the  present  variety 
and  perfection,  so  remarkable  in  the  animal  world,  gradually 
arose  from  those  species  of  marine  creatures  called  zoophytes, 
resembling,  as  their  name  denotes,  the  order  of  plants.  It 
is  not  easy  to  determine  the  original  ground-work  for  so  extra- 
ordinary and  impious  a  theory  ;  but  it  probably  arose,  in  some 

norant  of  the  ti-uth.  There  are  some  who  pretend  that  nature,  or 
fate,  is  the  supreme  power ;  but  the  very  najne  of  nature  implies 
that  it  must  owe  its  birth  to  some  prior  agent ;  andya^e  can  be  notJi- 
ing  but  a  divine  decree,  emanating  from  some  superior  power." 

We  must,  however,  in  justice  admit,  that,  in  the  minds  of  many, 
the  exclusio7i  above  alhided  to  has  been  acceded  to  with  the  very 
best  intention,  though  this  admission  may  be  looked  upon  as  a  proof 
of  that  very  tone  in  philosophy  in  general,  which  is  so  often  opposed 
to  the  great  truths  of  Revelation ;  for,  in  the  obscui'ities  under  which 
many  of  the  phenomena  of  creation  are  still  viewed,  and  under  the 
impression  of  such  obscure  and  erroneous  theories  as  have  been  put 
forth  by  philosophy,  men  of  the  soundest  faith  must  have  found 
themselves  so  constantly  involved  in  contradiction  to  the  records  of 
inspiration,  in  the  course  of  their  scientific  researches,  that  it  would 
be  found  more  advantageous  to  the  cause  of  religion  to  accede  to  this 
entire  exclusion,  than  to  confound  and  shatter  both,  by  such  continual 
collision  as  must  occur,  till  the  views  of  creation  become  more  en- 
lightened, and  complete  concord  is  established  between  Revelation 
and  the  phenomena  of  the  woi-ld  around  us.  This  desirable  and 
inevitable  concord  is  every  day  advancing  with  rapid  strides  ;  for, 
however  the  theories  of  philosophy  may  change,  the  Rock  of  Rev- 
elation stands  for  ever  immovably  fixed. 


GEOLOGY  OF  SCRIPTURE.  17 

degree,  from  the  erroneous  conclusions  from  fossil  remains, 
which  have  been  the  fertile  cause  of  so  much  misconception 
during  the  last  century.  It  has  been  remarked  by  geologists, 
that  the  only  fossil  remains  of  animated  beings  to  be  found 
in  the  earliest  secondary  rocks,  are  of  this  description  of 
zoophytes  ;  Jnd  it  has  therefore  been  concluded  as  a  positive 
fact^  that  zoophytes  were  the  first  and  most  imperfect  of  an- 
imated beings,  from  which,  by  a  living  principle  in  nature, 
all  other  improvements  have  gradually  sprung  up.  It  may 
easily  be  imagined  to  what  absurdities  such  theories  must^ 
have  led,  and  from  them  we  may  trace  the  systems  of 
Lamarck,  who  held,  amongst  others,  the  following  extraor- 
dinary  opinions.  He  considered  that  all  the  forms  of  anima- 
ted beings,  as  they  now  exist,  must  have  been  gradually  de- 
veloped, as  their  wants  and  necessities  demanded.  For  in- 
stance, the  deer,  and  the  antelope  tribe,  had  not  originally  the 
delicate  forms  and  nimble  activity  they  now  display;  these 
qualities  were  produced  by  the  necessity  of  flying  from  their 
enemies,  and  of  seeking  safety  by  rapid  flight.  The  aquatic 
birds  and  beasts  h?iving  webbed  feet  to  assist  them  in  swim- 
ming, had  no  such  helps  in  their  primitive  condition,  but  by 
constant  action  and  exertion  of  the  toes,  the  membrane  con- 
necting them  at  length  became  extended.  But  one  of  the 
most  whimsical  of  these  ideas,  perhaps,  relates  to  the 
unusual  length  of  neck  exhibited  by  the  cameleopard,  which 
is  described  as  being  originally  much  like  other  animals  ;  but 
by  the  habit  of  feeding  on  branches  of  trees,  it  gradually  as- 
sumed the  form  we  now  look  upon  with  admiration.  Such 
glaring  absurdities  as  these  have  long  ceased  to  find  support- 
ers ;  but  it  is  no  less  certain  that  the  idea  of  gradual  creation, 
or  production  of  successive  species  of  animated  beings,  is 
still  to  be  found  in  the  principles  of  our  modified  philosophy; 
and  that  the  tribe  of  zoophytes,  or  sea  animals,  resembling 
plants  in  their  form,  is  still  looked  upon  as  the  first  link  in  the 
great  animated  chain.  It  will,  therefore,  not  be  considered 
unworthy  of  our  attention,  if  we  take  a  more  extended  view 
of  the  argument,  and  endeavour  to  show  that  such  an  arrange- 
ment in  nature  is  not  only  derogatory  in  the  highest  degree 
from  the  Almighty  power  and  wisdom,  but  completely  at  vari- 
ance with  a  correct  view  of  the  animal  kingdom.  We  find  it 
correctly  stated  in  the  following  extract  from  one  of  the  most 
instructive  and  able  works  of  our  times,  that  the  various 
tribes  of  zoophytes  subsist  upon  the  noinute  species  of  aoimal- 


18  GEOLOGY  OF  SCRIPTURE. 

cula,  so  abundant  in  the  sea  as  well  as  in  all  the  other  waters  of 
the  earth,  and  which  have  been  called  infusoria^  from  the 
well  known  circumstance  that  scarcely  any  vegetable  sub- 
stance can  be  infused  in  pure  water,  without,  in  a  short  time, 
exhibiting,  under  the  microscope,  myriads  of  ^uch  wonders 
of  the  creative  power  and  wisdom.  "  Zoophytes  appear  to 
feed  principally  on  infusoria,  (or  sea  animalcula,)  and  they  re- 
quired ONLY  the  existence  of  that  class  to  prepare  the  sea  for  their 
creation.  Their  remains  form  the  oldest  fossil  animals  met 
with  in  the  strata  of  the  earth."* 

The  latter  part  of  this  passage,  from  the  pen  of  a  learned 
professor,  shows  that  its  author  directly  pointed  towards  the 
above  mentioned  notion,  grounded  on  French  philosophy, 
although  the  case  is  not  expressly  stated  in  words;  but,  as  in 
all  similar  doctrines  of  an  unsound  philosophy,  this  passage 
contains  the  antidote  as  well  as  the  poison,  for  it  fixes  upon  a 
class  of  animated  beings  as /oof?  for  thi^  first  link  of  the  ani- 
mated chain,  of  all  the  wonders  of  creative  wisdom,  that 
which  is,  perhaps,  best  calculated  to  excite  our  most  profound 
admiration. 

That  all  created,  beings  present  to  our  admiring  view  a 
great  chain  of  various  parts,  each  link  connected  with  its 
fellow  by  easy  shades  of  similarity  of  structure,  is  a  fact  ad- 
mitted by  the  most  cursory  student  in  this  wonderful  book. 
But  what  link  of  this  chain  is  to  be  looked  upon  as  less 
wonderful,  or  incomprehensible,  in  its  origin,  than  another  ? 
And  if,  which  it  would  be  difficult  to  do,  we  can  discover 
one  more  imperfect  than  another,  for  the  performance  of  the 
great  ends  to  which  it  is  decreed,  are  we  to  fix  upon  this  ap- 
parent imperfection  as  the  first  attempt  and  failure  of  the 
Almighty  hand  ]  The  wonders  displayed  by  the  microscope 
ought  for  ever  to  obliterate  from  our  minds  any  such  impious 
and  unworthy  notions.  That  instrument  exhibits  to  us  the 
great  fact,  that  if  perfection  of  design^  combined  with  what 
we  consider  difficulty  in  formation,  is  to  be  looked  for  in  the 
creation,  it  is  amongst  the  minutest  of  the  insect  tribe  that 
we  shall  find  displayed  the  most  wonderful  wisdom  of  the 
Creator.  All  that  the  most  profound  genius  is  capable  of 
inventing,  presents  but  a  feeble  image  of  the  structure  and 
actions  of  these  minute  creatures ;  and  yet  the  tribe  of  zoo- 
phytes, as. the  most  imperfect  of  created  animals,  "only 

^       *  Edinburgh  ^^cyclopedia,  rol.  xviii.  p.  843. 


GEOLOGY  OF  SCRIPTURE.  19 

required  the  existence  of  the  class  infusoria  to  prepare  the  sea 
for  their  creation !!'  Such  ideas  of  imperfection  in  the  works 
of  the  Almighty,  are  quite  unworthy  of  our  enlightened  times ; 
and  the  streams  of  knowledge  flow  to  little  purpose,  if  the 
head-springs  are  tainted  with  such  impurities. 

Our  notions  of  the  power  of  the  Creator  never  can  be  more 
elevated  than  in  contemplating  the  more  minute  portions  of 
the  animated  chain,  the  wonders  of  which  make  it  appear  as 
if  he  wished  to  veil  his  most  perfect  works  from  human 
eyes,  and  to  lavish  them  on  beings  the  most  obscure,  and,  in 
appearance,  the  most  vile;  for,  according  to  our  finite  and 
imperfect  ideas,  there  would  be  less  difficulty  (if  we  may 
so  speak  of  the  works  of  the  Almighty,)  in  forming  the 
large  members  of  the  whale,  or  of  the  elephant,  than  the 
delicate  fibres  and  minute  vessels  of  the  gnat  or  of  the 
spider.  But  as  we  descend  in  the  scale  of  magnitude,  we 
seem  to  ascend  in  that  of  perfection  and  incomprehensible 
difficulty;  for  by  the  aid  of  the  microscope,  we  discover  new 
wonders  at  every  step  of  our  investigations,  and  find  that 
our  unassisted  vision  can  perceive  but  one  half  of  the  living 
beings  which  adorn  the  earth.  The  mind  is  lost  in  wonder, 
and  is  incapable  of  conceiving  what  the  tongue  can  so  easily 
express,  that  there  are,  in  almost  all  fluids,  animals  as  per- 
fect as  ourselves  in  bodily  structure  and  action,  so  minute, 
that  it  would  require  millions  of  them  to  form  the  compass  of 
one  single  grain  of  sea  sand  ]*  But  when  we  thus  arrive  at 
the  verge  of  power  in  our  instruments,  we  have  still  no  rea- 
son to  conclude  that  we  have  reached  the  utmost  limit  of  an- 
imated creation.  Future  instruments  may  possibly  exhibit 
wonders  as  great  as  those  we  are  now  considering  ;  and  we 
thus  find,  as  astronomei;g  have  done  in  the  opposite  extremity, 
that  we  can  discover  no  bounds  to  creative  power  and  wisdom. 

It  may  also  be  remarked,  that  the  balance  of  animal  and 
vegetable  productions  is  so  admirably  arranged,  that  the  re- 
moval of  any  one  link  would  serve  to  throw  the  whole  chain 
into  confusion.     We  come,  then,  in  conclusion,  to  the  same 

*  The  author  has  lately  had  an  opportvmity  of  demonstrating,  in 
the  most  unequivocal  manner,  that  it  would  require  from  one  to  three 
milUons  of  some  active  animalcula  to  form  the  bulk  of  a  grain  of  sand. 
This  distinct  measurement  is  made  by  means  of  a  vegetable  gradu- 
ated fibi-e,  accidentally  discovered  in  a  greenish  scum  on  a  gi'avel 
Avalk. 


20  GEOLOGY  OF  SCRIPTURE. 

point  from  whence  we  at  first  set  out,  viz.  that  zoophytes 
could  not  exist  without  the  animals  on  which  they  feed ;  and 
as  the  same  may  be  concluded,  with  regard  to  any  other 
individual  species,  that  all  must  have  been  the  spontaneous 
creation  of  an  Almighty  pow^er,  at  one  and  the  same  period, 
and  not  a  gradual  production,  by  the  mere  laws  of  nature.  We 
shall  have  a  future  opportunity  of  showing  why  zoophytes 
could  not  but  be  the  earliest  fossil  productions  found  in  the 
secondary  strata  of  the  earth. 

The  supposed  chemical  process,  however,  which  we  were 
before  considering,  must  have  required  a  much  longer  period 
than  the  inspired  writings  have  given  us,  to  bring  it  to  per- 
fection. The  days  of  the  Mosaical  history,  (which  history 
never  could  be  entirely  excluded  from  the  minds  of  men,) 
with  their  evenings  and  their  mornings,  were,  therefore, 
forced  into  the  indefinite  periods  necessary  for  the  operation. 

Geologists,  without  any  knowledge  of  the  original  text, 
and  learned  men,  without  any  knowlege  of  geology,  have, 
therefore,  unintentionally  formed  a  species  of  coalition,  the 
effects  of  which  strike  deep  into  the  very  root  of  our  confi- 
dence in  Scripture,  and  sap  the  foundation  on  which  our  be- 
lief in  the  Omnipotence  and  Omniscience  of  an  Almighty  Crea- 
tor ought  to  be  jfounded. 

With  whatever  pleasure  and  interest,  then,  we  may  follow 
the  more  plausible  theories  of  secondary  formations  on  the 
surface  of  the  earth,  it  appears  impossible  for  our  reason  to 
enter,  even  in  the  slightest  degree,  into  the  hypothetical  sys- 
tems taught  by  the  highest  scientific  authorities  with  regard  to 
Jirst  formations.  We  are  taught,  both  by  scripture  and  by  our 
reason,  that  the  earth,  as  but  a  small  part  of  an  immense 
sytem,  was  intended  as  a  temporary  abode  for  immortal  souls 
in  their  mortal  bodies.  We  have  no  reason  to  suppose  that 
we  are  misled  by  history,  when  we  are  informed  that  but  a 
very  few  thousands  of  years  have  elapsed  since  the  creation 
of  mankind  :  we  are  taught  to  believe,  from  what  we  read  in 
a  part  of  Scripture,  which  it  is  not  so  much  the  object  of 
science  to  dispute,  that  a  very  cDnsiderable  portion  of  the 
historical  events  of  the  world  has  already  passed  away,  and, 
consequently,  we  may  infer,  that  the  scene  on  which  we  now 
act  a  part,  will  not  be  of  immense  duration.  Now,  in  con- 
sidering the  laws  by  which  events  are  brought  about,  and  the 
changes  of  this  world  are  effected,  we  never  discover  so  great 
a  disproportion  between  the  7?ieans  and  the  end,  as  would  be 


GEOLOGY  OF  SCRIPTURE.  21 

the  case,  if  we  admit,  with  but  two  many  geologists,  that 
millions  of  years  may  have  been  necessary  for  the  preparation 
and  ripening  of  this  earth  from  chaos^  to  fit  it  up  as  a  stage  on 
which  so  brief  a  drama  was  to  be  acted.  This  is  one  of  the 
first  difficulties  our  reason  has  to  encounter  in  considering  the 
gradual  formation  of  the  globe  from  secondary  causes  :  but 
our  difficulties  are  only  then  beginning,  for  even  if  we  admit 
this  theory,  we  do  not,  in  the  least  degree,  advance  towards 
the  object  of  our  search;  we  are  as  far  as  ever  removed  from 
a  Great  First  Cause,  to  which  our  reason  is  as  true  as  the 
magnet  to  its  pole.  We  cannot  close  our  eyes  upon  the  great 
truth  so  deeply  impressed  upon  our  minds  by  every  thing 
around  us,  that,  even  admitting  a  chaos^  that  chaos  must  have 
been  created  in  all  its  component  parts.  The  chemist,  in  his 
laboratory,  may  compound  the  various  substances  and  fluids, 
from  the  qualities  of  which  he  is  aware  that  crystals  will  be 
formed ;  but  he  is  obliged  to  exercise  the  knowledge  acquired 
from  study  and  experience,  and  to  apply  the  heat  necessary 
for  their  formation.  Although  he  may  thus  form  the  com- 
pound, can  he  create  the  materials  of  it?  Though  he  may 
produce  crystals,  can  he  enact  a  law  by  which  these  beautiful 
forms  shall  be  arranged?  No.  The  potter  may  form  the 
vessel,  but  he  cannot  create  the  clay. 

Amongst  the  many  inextricable  difficulties  in  which  we 
become  involved,  by  a  departure  from  the  guidance  of  the 
sacred  record,  and  by  supposing,  with  the  continental  philo- 
sophy, that  the  solid  globe  was  a  chemical  crystalline  deposit 
from  an  aqueos  chaos,  we  have  to  overcome  this  certain  fact 
iri  these  same  laws  of  nature,  viz.  that  as  we  know  of  no 
other  source  of  heat,  and,  consequently,  of  Jluidity  on  our 
globe,  and,  probably,  in  the  other  members  of  the  solar  sys- 
tem, than  the  sun;  as  we  know  that  there  are  parts  of  our 
planet  around  the  poles  where  no  water  can  exist  in  a  fluid 
state,  for  the  greater  part,  if  not  the  whole  of  the  year,  from 
the  absence  of  that  sun's  influence,  nor,  indeed,  ever  could 
have  existed  since  the  solar  system  was  arranged ;  and  as  we 
know  that  without  that  solar  influence  no  fluidity  could  exist 
on  any  part  of  the  earth's  surface,  by  the  mere  laws  of  nature, 
(as  even  mercury  becomes  solid  at  a  higher  temperature  than 
exists  at  the  poles,)  how  are  we  to  suppose  a  chaotic  aqueous 
Jft,uid,  held  together  in  empty  space,  and  without  the  melting 
influence  of  a  sun,  which,  consistently  with  this  philoso- 
phy, we  must  conclude  was  not  yei precipitated  or  crystallized 
C 


22  GEOLOGY  OP  SCRIPTURE* 

into  perfection  within  its  own  chaos;  for  if  we  adopt  the 
chaotic  principle,  with  regard  to  our  own  planet,  we  cannot, 
in  fairness,  refuse  it  to  the  other  heavenly  bodies. 

In  adopting  secondare/  causes,  then,  or  the  theory  of  the  for- 
mation of  the  earth  by  the  were  laws  of  nature  from  an  aqueous 
chaos,  we  must  account  for  fluidity  without  heat,  an  effect  with- 
out a  cause,  and  directly  opposed  to  all  the  known  laws  of 
nature.* 

In  advocating,  then,  the  chaotic  philosophy,  we  must  ac- 
count for  the  creation  of  the  crude  materials  of  which  that 
chaos  must  have  been  composed,  and  also  for  those  wonderful 
laws  to  which  matter  has  been  subjected,  and  by  which  it  is 
forced  to  assume  those  crystalline  forms  which  we  so  much 
admire ;  and  being  thus  forced  to  acknowledge  a  Creator  so 
wise  and  powerful  as  to  be  able  to  form  even  a  chaos  out  of 
nothing,  ("for  if  God  did  not  create  the  first  thing,  then  there 
is  something  besides  Him  that  was  never  made,  and  then 

*  The  greatest  degree  of  natural  cold  that  has  hitherto  been  ob- 
served in  the  open  air,  is  about  50  degrees  below  zero  ;  but  at  the 
actual  poles,  and  more  especially  at  tlie  south  pole,  which  is  sur- 
rounded by  ice,  and  inaccessible  by  ships  for  upwards  of  1000  miles 
on  all  sides,  is,  probably,  at  a  much  lower  temperature.  Mercury 
freezes  at  39  degrees  below  zero,  and  then  becomes  malleable  like 
any  other  metal.  Thus,  at  the  poles,  mercury  never  could  have 
existed  in  a  fluid  state,  any  more  than  ^atei^ ;  and  tlie  strongest  spirits 
are  frozen  at  a  still  higher  temperature. 

"All  substances  in  nature,  as  far  as  we  know  them,  occur  in  one 
or  other  of  three  states ;  that  of  solids,  of  liquids,  or  of  elastic  fluids. 

"In  a  vast  number  of  cases  the  same  substance  is  capable  of  as- 
suming each  of  these  states  in  succession.  Thus,  sulphur  is  usually 
solid,  but  at  218  degrees  it  becomes  a  liquid,  and  at  570  degrees  it 
boils,  and  is  converted  into  an  elastic  fluid.  Water  is  a  hqtud,  but  at 
32  degrees  it  freezes  into  a  solid,  while  at  212  degrees  it  boils  iuto  an 
elastic  fluid. 

"All  solids  (a  very  few  excepted)  maybe  converted  into  liquids 
by  heating  them  sufficiently ;  and  almost  all  liquids  by  cooling  tliem 
sufficiently,  may  be  converted  into  solids.  The  law  of  natm^e  then, 
is,  that  solids  by  heat  are  converted  into  liquids  and  elastic  fluids; 
ivhile  elastic  fluids  and  liquids  by  cold  are  brought  into  the  state  of 
solids." — Edin.  Encyclop.  Chetnistry,  p.  36. 

"  From  what  has  been  advanced  respecting  the  situation,  proper- 
ties and  manner  of  formation  of  the  ice  surroiuiding  the  pole,  we 
may  naturally  conclude  that  a  continent  of  ice-mountains  may  exist 
in  regions  near  the  pole,  yet  unexiilored,  the  nucleus  of  which  may 
be  as  ancient  as  the  earth  itself,  and  its  increase  derived  from  the  sea 
and  atmosphere  combined." — Scoresby^s  Arctic  Reg.  vol.  ii.  p.  319. 


GEOLOGY  OF  SCRIPTURE.  23 

there  are  two  Eternals,"*)  we  come  to  the  consideration  of 
his  power  to  create  things  in  a  more  perfect  form.  We  find 
that  created  matter  is  divided  into  three  kingdoms,  as  they 
have  been  called,  of  animal,  vegetable  and  mineral.-  there  are 
few  who  would  now  dispute  that  the  first  and  second  of  these 
great  divisions  must  have  been  at  first  formed  in  a  perfect 
and  mature  state,  although  both  have  since  been  submitted 
to  laws,  through  which  they  must  pass  from  the  embryo  state 
to  perfection.  We  cannot  for  a  moment  suppose  the  first 
man  to  have  been  once  an  infant,  or  the  first  oak  tree  to  have 
sprung  from  an  acorn,  though  all  subsequent  individuals,  in 
both  species,  must  now  pass  through  these  stages.  If  this 
perfection  of  form  is  admitted,  then,  in  the  first  creation  of 
the  animal  and  vegetable  world,  are  we  to  suppose  that  the 
mineral  productions  of  the  earth  were  exceptions  from  this 
rule "?  or  that  a  Being  so  wise  and  so  powerful  as  to  be  able 
to  create  a  man  or  a  tree,  with  all  the  wonderful  contrivance 
and  design  discoverable  in  each,  and  above  all,  endued  with 
a  living  principle,  was  yet  obliged  to  form  an  imperfect  mass, 
and  to  wait  the  fermenting  or  crystallizing  process  from 
which  its  more  perfect  form  was  to  arise  T  The  idea  is  re- 
volting to  reason ;  and  when  we  have  rejected  it  as  improbable, 
as  impossible,  then  comes  inspiration,  with  its  lofty  and  im- 
posing simplicity,  to  assist  our  weak  understandings,  and  to 
assure  us  that  "  in  the  beginning  God  created  the  heaven  and 
the  earth." 

Having,  by  this  line  of  reasoning,  come  to  the  conclusion 
that  the  theory  of  a  chaos,  or  imperfect  formation  of  the  earth, 
is  not  only  contrary  to  our  reason,  but  also  in  direct  opposi- 
tion to  history,  our  belief  in  the  truth  of  the  inspired  writings 
is  strengthened  and  confirmed ;  and  we  feel  equally  disposed 
to  question  those  theories  of  philosophy  which  account  for 
the  present  appearances  and  stratifications  on  the  earth's  sur- 
face, by  a  numerous  succession  of  accidents  and  revolutions 

*  Letter  prom  Jeremy  Taylor,  to  JoHif  Evelyke,  Es  q.. 

*'  To  your  question, '  How  it  appears  that  God  made  all  things  out 
of  nothing,'  I  answer,  it  is  demonstrably  certain,  or  else  there  is  no 
God.  For  if  there  be  a  God,  he  is  the  one  principle  :  but  if  he  did 
not  make  the  first  tiling,  tlien  there  is  sometliing  besides  him  that 
was  never  made,  and  then  tliere  are  tivo  Eternals.  Now,  if  God 
made  the  first  thing,  he  made  it  of  nothing. 

"  Yoiu'  obliged  and  affectionate  servant, 

•  "  Jeremy  Taylor." 


24  GEOLOGY  OF  SCRIPTURE. 

which  are  supposed  by  some  to  have  occurred  previous  to 
the  creation  or  production  of  mankind,  but  subsequent  to  the 
earth's  having  assumed  that  perfect  crystalline  form  we  now 
discover  in  the  primitive  rocks.  The  demand  for  time  is  here 
again  advanced  by  geologists,  who  support  this  theory  of 
alternate  revolutions ;  and  as  time  is  as  nothing  in  eternity, 
they  make  whatever  draughts  they  have  occasion  for  upon 
this  inexhaustible  fund.  It  appears  that  history,  as  well  as 
the  consideration  of  the  present  course  of  things  upon  the 
earth,  are  equally  considered  as  nothing  in  this  philosophy. 
The  minerals  of  the  earth  have  been  likened  to  coins  stamped 
with  unknown  or  difficult  characters;  and  it  is  the  business 
of  the  geologist,  as  of  the  antiquary,  to  decipher  and  arrange 
them  in  chronological  order.  But  as  it  may  safely  be  pre- 
sumed that  the  antiquary  would  make  little  advance  in  his 
work,  if  he  neglected  to  consult  such  histories  as  were  within 
his  reach,  so  we  may  come  to  the  same  conclusion  with  re- 
gard to  the  geologist.  Ancient  coins,  minerals  or  fossils  are 
all  equally  unintelligible,  if  we  have  no  guide  from  history  to 
lead  us  to  an  explanation  of  them. 

In  entering,  then,  upon  our  geological  inquiries,  it  appears 
the  more  natural  course  to  proceed  upwards,  from  material 
things  as  they  are  now  presented  to  our  senses,  to  the  First 
Great  Cause,  by  which  alone  they  could  have  been  produced ; 
and  then,  consulting  such  history  as  may  be  within  our  reach, 
to  retrace  our  steps  downwards,  from  the  beginning  of  all 
things  to  the  present  time.*  We  mly  thus  entertain  a  con- 
fident hope  that  all  the  appearances  on  the  surface  of  the 
earth,  upon  which  the  theories  of  philosophy  have  been 
founded,  may  be  accounted  for  by  an  attentive  and  unpreju- 
diced, and  above  all,  a  docile  consideration  of  the  three  great 
events  recorded  in  history,  viz.  the  creation  of  the  earth;  the 
formation  of  a  bed  for  the  primitive  sea,  with  the  statural  causes 
acting  within  that  sea  for  upwards  of  sixteen  centuries  ;  and, 
lastly,  the  deluge,  with  its  crowd  of  corroborative  witnesses, 

*  In  the  sixteenth  centmy,  the  astronomer,  John  Kepler,  of  Wir- 
temburg',  presented  a  work  full  of  wild  theory,  to  the  great  Tycho 
Brahe,  who,  after  perusing  it,  returned  it  with  tlie  following  ad- 
vice: — "  First,  lay  a  solid  foundation  for  your  views  by  actual  obser- 
vation ;  and  then,  by  ascending  from  tliese,  strive  to  reach  the  causes 
of  tilings."  The  whole  philosophy  of  Bacon  was  thus  compressed, 
by  anticipation,  into  one  short  sentence. 


GEOLOGV  OP  SCRIPTURE.  -  25 

togethey  with  the  subsequent  action  of  natural  causes  from  that 
time  to  the  present  day ^  or  for  upwards  of  four  thousand  years. 

With  regard  to  tlie  character  of  Moses  himself,  and  the 
books  of  Scripture  which  were  written  by  him,  under  the 
guidance  of  inspiration,  by  which  alone  he  could  have  pro- 
nounced the  remarkable  prophecies  which  were  afterwards 
so  strictly  fulfilled,  it  would  not  be  to  my  purpose  in  this 
place  to  enter  into  discussion.  It  is  enough  to  say  that  he 
is  acknowledged  by  all  as  the  most  ancient  historian  whose 
works  have  come  down  to  our  times ;  and  that  the  frequent 
notice  taken  of  him  by  ancient  writers,  would  serve  to  con- 
firm the  truth  of  his  own  narrative,  even  if  events  foretold  did 
not  vouch  for  his  veracity. 

If  the  great  events  thus  recorded  in  the  inspired  writings, 
with  all  their  necessary  consequences,  were  as  studiously 
adopted  as  foundations  to  build  upon,  as  they  have  hitherto 
been  studiously  set  aside  in  geology,  we  should  soon  find  in 
all  classes,  ardent  students  in  this  most  interesting  science. 
But  when  an  ordinary  mind,  anxiously  searching  after  truth, 
finds  itself  launched  into  a  sea  of  clouds  and  thick  darkness, 
without  star  or  compass  as  a  guide,  it  must  either  desperately 
proceed  from  doubt  to  inJideUty^  under  the  guidance  of  unas- 
sisted reason  and  philosophy^  or  must  give  up  the  subject  in 
despair  of  ever  reaching  the  desired  object ;  happy  if  it  escape 
the  too  common  taint  of  unbelief  on  points  incomparably  more 
important  than  geology.  For  if  the  Sacred  Scriptures  are  the 
unerring  dictates  of  divine  inspiration,  which  prophecy  ^o 
fully  determines,  we  must  consider  them  as  infallible  in  every 
point.  If,  on  the  contrary,  we  find  at  the  very  threshold  a 
statement  demonstrably  false,  we  should  have  the  strongest 
possible  ground  for  refusing  our  belief  to  the  subsequent 
history. 

"Infidels  have  always  imagined,  and  believers  have  too 
generally  conceded,  that  the  Mosaic  account  of  the  early  ages 
of  the  world  is  the  weakest  of  the  outworks  of  Christianity, 
But,  on  the  contrary,  we  may  be  persuaded  that  the  firmest 
ground  which  even  a  philosophical  believer  can  take,  is  the 
Mosaic  record." — Edin.  Encyclop.  Antediluvian. 

It  is  in  vain  we  look  for  this  line  of  reasoning  in  the  works 
of  those  who  are  generally  considered  the  great  leaders  in 
science.  Both  parties  into  which  geologists  have  ranged 
themselves,  the  supporters  of  the  theories  oijire  and  of  water, 
are  equally  opposed  to  the  simple  and  unadorned  narrative  of 
c  2 


26  GEOLOGY  OF  SCRIPTURE. 

the  sacred  historian ;  and  both  parties  have,  consequently,  led 
themselves  and  their  followers  into  an  inextricable  maze  on 
the  subject  of  primitive  formations.  It  is,  indeed,  a  melan- 
choly proof,  if  any  such  were  wanting,  of  the  natural  turpi- 
tude of  tlie  human  mind,  that  notwithstanding  the  bright 
instances  which  have  been  and  still  are  found  in  the  opposite 
scale,  so  large  a  portion  of  those  who  search  deepest  into,  and 
who  ought,  therefore,  to  be  best  acquainted  with,  the  works 
of  the  Creator,  have  Iseen  so  little  inclined  to  give  him  the 
credit  due  to  his  omnipotence  and  wisdom,  that  philosophy 
and  scepticism  have  been  but  too  often  and  too  justly  looked 
upon  as  almost  synonymous  terms.  What  advances  have 
been  made  in  every  branch  of  science  and  of  arts  since  the 
days  of  Newton,  and  even  since  those  of  the  great  Linnaeus! 
yet  we  do  not  always  find  a  proportioned  increase  either  in 
faith  or  in  religious  zeal.  Any  attempt  to  mix  up  science 
with  religion  has,  indeed,  been  openly  condemned  by  many 
able  writers;  yet  the  time,  it  is  to  be  hoped,  will  come,  when 
the  Linnaean  systems  will  be  followed,  as  well  in  religion  as 
in  its  union  with  the  knowledge  of  the  works  of  the  Creator. 
The  great  and  good  Linnaeus  lost  no  opportunity  of  expa- 
tiating on  the  wisdom  and  goodness  of  the  Almighty.  In 
such  expressions  of  admiration  his  breast  seemed  to  glow 
with  warmth,  and  he  became  truly  eloquent.* 

"Awake,  upon  the  earth,"  exclaims  he,  "I  have  contem- 
plated an  immense,  eternal,  all-powerful,  and  omniscient 
God !  I  have  seen  him,  and  fallen  prostrate  in  astonishment 
at  his  very  shadow.  I  have  sought  out  his  steps  in  the  midst 
of  his  creatures,  even  amongst  the  most  imperceptible.  What 
power !  what  wisdom !  what  inexpressible  perfection  !  I  have 
observed  the  animals  nourished  by  vegetables;  these,  again, 
by  earthly  bodies ;  the  earth  rolling  in  its  unalterable  orb  round 
the  sun,  the  burning  source  of  its  life ;  the  sun  itself,  turning 
on  its  axis,  with  the  planets  that  surround  it,  forming,  with 
the  other  stars,  indefinite  in  number,  an  immense  and  bound- 
less system.  All  is  ruled  by  the  Incomprehensible  Prime 
Mover,  the  Being  of  Beings,  as  Aristotle  has  called  him,  the 
Cause  of  Causes,  the  Eternal  Architect  of  his  magnificent 
work." 

*  This  great  naturalist  and  philosopher  insci-ibed  over  the  door  of 
his  lecture  room  at  Upsal : 

"  Iiinocui  vivite,  Numen  adest" 


GEOLOGY  OF  SCRIPTURE.  27 

Even  the  heathen  philosophers  have  set  us  an  example  on 
these  great  and  important  points,  which  the  most  humble 
Christians  must  acknowledge  with  admiration.  "  Do  you 
call  him  Fatality?  you  are  nOt  wrong,"  says  Seneca,  "as 
every  thing  depends  upon  him.  Do  you  prefer  him  under  the 
name  of  Nature?  you  are  right ;  all  things  are  born  from  him. 
If  you  name  him  Providence,  you  are  equally  right ;  for  by 
his  orders  and  councils  the  world  displays  its  wonders.  He 
is  all  eye,  all  ear,  all  soul,  all  life;  and  human  intellect  is  in- 
capable of  comprehending  his  immensity."  "That  Being," 
says  the  same  heathen,  "  that  Cause  of  Causes,  without  whom 
nothing  exists,  who  has  constructed  and  organized  all  things; 
who  is  every  where  present,  and  yet  escapes  our  view ;  has 
veiled  his  August  Majesty  in  a  retreat- so  holy  and  impene- 
trable, that  it  is  in  thought  alone  that  we  can  reach  it. 

In  a  beautiful  hymn  of  Cleanthes,  as  preserved  by  Sto- 
baeus,  we  find  the  following  sublime  address  to  the  Deity, 
under  the  title  of  Jupiter : 

"  O  God,  from  whom  all  gifts  descend,  who  sitteth  in  thick 
darkness,  dispel  all  ignorance  from  the  mind  of  man ;  deign 
to  enlighten  his  soul,  draw  it  to  that  eternal  reason  which 
serves  as  thy  guide  and  support  in  the  government  of  the 
world ;  so  that,  honoured  with  a  portion  of  this  light,  we  may, 
in  our  turn,  be  able  to  honour  thee,  by  celebrating  thy  great 
works  unceasingly  in  a  hymn.  This  is  the  proper  duty  of 
man.  For  surely  nothing  can  be  more  delightful  to  the  in- 
habitants of  the  earth,  than  to  celebrate  that  Divine  Reason 
which  presides  over  the  world." 

To  such  magnificent  acknowledgments  of  a  true  God,  by 
those  whom  we  call  heathens,  we  may  add  the  beautiful 
creed  of  the  great  Pliny :  "  We  must  believe,"  says  he,  "  that 
there  exists  an  Eternal,  Infinite,  and  Uncreated  Divinity." 

The  light  of  day,  however,  begins  to  dawn  upon  this  philo- 
sophic night;  and  there  are  many  whose  eyes  begin  to  be 
opened,  by  the  very  excesses  of  hypothesis  which  have  been 
promulgated  by  their  scientific  leaders.  The  great  end  of  the 
study  of  geology  ought  to  be,  a  moral,  rather  than  a  scientific 
one;  the  numerous  practical  and  economical  uses  to  be  de- 
rived from  it,  should  be,  comparatively,  subordinate,  and 
would  be  fully  gained  in  the  course  of  the  inquiry.  The  study 
carried  on  upon  this  principle  in  the  present  day,  when  sci- 
ence has  made  such  rapid  advances,  as  to  have,  as  it  were, 
shed  a  new  light  upon  our  benighted  minds,  would  have  the 


28  GEOLOGY  OF  SCRIPTtTRE. 

effect  of  settling  our  fluctuating  opinions,  which  may  have 
been  shaken  by  the  suggestions  of  a  false  philosophy.  Let 
but  a  small  portion  of  the  brilliant  talent  be  displayed  on  the 
science,  viewed  in  this  light,  that  has  been  expended  and  lost 
in  hypothetical  reasoning  for  the  last  half  century,  and  we 
may  confidently  trust,  that  the  coalition  thus  formed  between 
science  and  religion,  will  bid  defiance  to  the  utmost  efforts  of 
infidelity  and  scepticism.* 

*  It  may  be  said  of  this,  and  of  all  other  philosophical  inquiries, 
as  has  been  eloquently  observed  with  regard  to  Christianity:  "  It  is 
delightful  to  hare  every  doubt  removed,  by  the  positive  proof  of  its 
truth;  to  feel  that  conviction  of  its  certainty  which  infidelity  can 
never  impart  to  her  votaries;  and  to  perceive  that  assurance  of  the 
faith  which  is  as  superior  in  the  hope  which  it  communicates,  as  in 
the  certainty  on  which  it  rests,  to  the  cheerless  and  disquieting  doubts 
of  the  unbelieving  mind.  Instead  of  being  a  mere  prejudice  of  edu- 
cation, which  may  be  easily  shaken,  belief,  thus  founded  on  reason, 
becomes  fixed  and  immovable;  and  all  the  scoffing  of  the  scorner, 
and  speculations  of  the  infidel,  lie  as  lightly  on  the  mind,  or  pass  as 
imperceptibly  over  it,  and  make  as  little  impression  there,  as  the 
spray  upon  a  rock." — Keitli's  Evid.  of  Proph.  p.  4. 


POSTSCRIPT. 

Since  this  work  was  completed,  the  "  Principles  of  Geolo- 
gy?" by  Mr.  Lyell,  have  appeared;  a  work  of  very  great  tal- 
ent, and  full  of  interesting  research  and  information  on  the 
secondary  causes  in  constant  action  upon  the  earth.  This  able 
writer  has,  however,  taken,  in  some  respects,  a  new  line  of 
theory,  and  is  as  desirous  of  accounting  for  the  phenomena  on 
the  surface  of  the  earth,  without  the  aid  of  any  unusual  or 
preternatural  convulsion,  as  other  geologists  have  been  to 
press  into  their  service  a  constant  repetition  of  deluges  and 
disasters.  He  sets  out  upon  the  principle  of  Play  fair,  "  that 
amid  all  the  revolutions  of  the  globe,  the  economy  of  nature 
has  been  uniform,  and  her  laws  are  the  only  things  that  have 
resisted  the  general  movement.  The  rivers  and  the  rocks,  the 
seas  and  the  continents,  have  changed  in  all  their  parts ;  but 
the  laws  which  direct  those  changes,  and  the  rules  to  which 
they  are  subject,  have  remained  invariably  the  same." — Title 
Page, 

Thus  we  find,  that  while  Cuvier  inculcates  the  doctrine  of 
immerous  deluges,  alternately  of  salt  and  of  fresh  water,  Mr. 
Lyell  endeavours  to  account  for  all  things  without  the  aid  of 
any  general  deluge,  though  he  considers  local  deluges  as 
amongst  the  ordinary  occurrences  of  nature,  and  producing 
violent  local  effects.  The  Mosaic  deluge  appears  to  be  look- 
ed upon  either  as  a  fable,  or  as  a  less  general  catastrophe, 
than  it  is  usually  conceived  to  have  been;  and,  as  a  supporter 
of  the  Mosaic  account  of  it,  it  is  probable  that  I  shall  be  class- 
ed among  those  '■'' physico-theological  writers,''''  who,  in  the 
early  days  of  science,  wrote,  it  is  true,  but  little  worthy  of 
saving  them  from  the  contempt  with  which  they  are  here 
treated. 

As  may  easily  be  conceived  of  a  theory  wherein  all  things 
are  to  be  accounted  for  by  the  slow  and  gradual  march  of  na- 


30  GEOLOGY  OF  SCRIPTURE. 

tiiral  secondary  causes,  Mr.  Lyell's  system  requires  an  un- 
limited period  of  time  for  its  completion;  and  in  tracing  the 
errors  into  which  other  philosophers  have  fallen,  he  thinks 
there  can  be  no  wonder  if  such  should  be  the  case,  when  Jtun- 
dreds  of  years  are  often  reckoned  instead  of  thousands,  and 
thousands  instead  of  millions.  Mr.  Lyell  accounts  for  the 
elevation  of  mountain  ridges,  by  successive  up-heavings  of 
Volcanic  force,  small  in  degree,  but  of  frequent  repetition; 
and,  having  time  at  command,  he  finds  no  difficulty  in  this 
process. 

But  notwithstanding  this  theoretical  argument  in  the  "  Prin- 
ciples of  Geology^"  so  distinctly  opposed  by  so  many  facts 
in  nature ;  and,  with  regard  to  at  least  one  deluge,  so  totally 
opposed  tq  history,  and  the  traditions  of  all  nations,  Mr.  Lyell 
has  taken  a  very  learned  and  extended  view  of  secondary 
causes  and  of  secondary  formations.  On  the  evidences  to  be 
derived  from  the  fossil  remains  of  quadrupeds,  however,  he 
has  encountered  the  same  difficulties  as  professor  Buckland, 
without  having  succeeded  in  throwing  any  greater  degree  of 
light  on  the  obscurities  of  that  subject.  His  mode  of  account- 
ing for  the  remains  of  elephants  in  the  icebergs  of  the  polar 
seas,  and  for  the  other  tropical  remains  of  animals  and  vege- 
tables over  the  temperate  and  polar  regions,  proceeds  upon 
the  same  principle,  and  is  open  to  the  same  glaring  objections 
as  the  theories  of  Dr.  Buckland  and  baron  Cuvier. 

With  regard,  however,  to  the  actual  age  of  the  world,  and 
the  actually  short  period  during  which  secondary  causes  have 
been  in  action  on  the  portions  of  the  globe  we  now  inhabit, 
we  may  safely  refer  the  subject  to  the  powerful  evidence  pro- 
duced in  such  abundance,  and  with  so  much  industry,  by  this 
author  himself.  I  have  had  occasion  in  a  note,  in  another 
part  of  this  treatise,  (see  Chapter  V.)  to  notice  the  startling 
facts  produced  by  Mr.  Lyell,  with  respect  to  the  quantity  of 
mud  daily  imported  into  the  sea  hy  the  single  river,  the  Ganges : 
it  is  there  admitted  by  Mr.  Lyell,  that  even  at  the  lowest  esti' 
mate,  viz.  one  part  in  a  hundred,  of  mud,  in  the  waters  of  that 
river,  there  is  imported  daily  into  the  Bay  of  Bengal,  "  a  mass 
more  than  equal  in  weight  and  bulk  to  the  great  pyramid  of 
Egypt."*  It  does  not  suit  the  theory  of  Mr.  Lyell  to  admit 
the  correctness  of  major  Rennell's  estimate,  in  which  it  is 
ghown,  with  much  clearness,  that  the  daily  deposit  of  that  sin- 

*  Principles  of  Geology,  vol.  i.  p.  284, 


.GEOLOGY  OF  SCRIPTURE.  31 

gk  river,  in  the  flood  season,  instead  of  only  once,  is  nearly 
equal  to  seventy-four  times  the  weight  of  that  gigantic  monu- 
ment.    If  we  even  divide  the  difference  between  these  two 
authors,  and  admit  the  amount  to  be  not  more  than  than  from 
thirty  to  forty  times  the  size  of  the  pyramid  per  day,  and  if  we 
extend  our  view  of  a  similar  action  to  all  the  rivers  of  the  earth, 
and  then  consider  the  comparative  actual  extent  of  the  whole 
mass  of  secondary  formations  over  the  surface  of  the  primitive 
globe,  we  shall  at  once  perceive  that  such  violent  transporting 
powers,  acting  for  a  million  of  years,  must  have  produced  a 
mass  of  secondary  formations,  infinitely  greater  than  what 
actually  exists  upon  the  earth,  which  may,  probably,  be  con- 
sidered as  of  not  greater  medium  thickness  than  about  one 
mile.     But  one  million  of  years  is  not  sufficient  for  those 
who  advocate  the  view  of  the  subject  adopted  by  Mr.  Lyell ; 
no  author  of  that  school  has  ever  yet  been  able  to  bound  his 
views  within  any  nameable  period ;  and  we  may,  with  much 
truth,  transpose  their  own  animadversion,  and  consider  it  as 
not  very  wonderful  if  they  find  themselves  involved  in  inex- 
tricable confusion  and  difficulty,  when  they  calculate  upon 
thousands  of  years,  instead  of  hundreds,  and  millions  instead  of 
thousands. 


CHAPTER  I. 

Our  ideas  of  the  real  extent  of  Objects  on  the  EariK^s  Surface  often 
erroneous. —  True  height  of  Mountains. — Depths  of  the  Ocean. 
— Of  Mines. — Of  Volcanic  Foci. — Eruptions  of  Mud  contain- 
ing Fish. —  Volcanoes  only  in  Secondary  Formations. — True 
Scale  071  which  to  view  the  Earth. — Form  of  the  Earth. — JVew- 
ton's  Demonstrations. — Gravity  and  Centrifugal  Force. — 
False  inferences  drawn  from  Newton's  Hypothesis. — True 
Primitive  Creations. — Density  of  the  Earth. — Reflections 
arising  from  the  Subject. — The  Days  of  Creation, 

On  entering  on  a  subject  so  extensive  as  the  consideration  of 
the  entire  globe,  and  with  the  intention  of  first  viewing  it  in  a 
general  way,  before  we  proceed  to  the  examination  of  its  par- 
ticular parts,  our  first  object  ought  to  be  to  attain  the  neces- 
sary elevation  from  whence  this  full  and  general  view  may  be 
obtained. 

Man,  in  his  little  sphere  of  action,  on  a  minute  portion  of 
its  surface,  finds  his  ideas  so  confined,  that  he  is  constantly 
misled  by  them,  in  forming  conceptions  of  objects  beyond 
common,  every  day  observation.  Thus,  when  traversing  the 
stupendous  Alpine  regions  of  the  earth,  the  mind  of  a  stranger 
is  overcome  with  the  imusual  appearances  of  things ;  and  it 
is  in  such  scenes  that  the  geologist  but  too  often  forms  erro- 
neous notions  of  the  ^^  fracture  and  ruin  of  the  solid  crust  of  the 
earth."*     In  like  manner,  an  idea  oi  immensity  is  attached  to 

*  "  In  the  midst  of  such  scenes,  the  geologist  feels  his  mind  invigo- 
rated; the  magnitude  of  the  appearances  before  him  extinguishes  all 
the  little  and  contracted  notions  he  may  have  formed  in  his  closet;  and 
he  learns  that  it  is  only  by  visiting  and  studying  these  stupendous 
works,  that  he  can  form  an  adequate  conception  of  the  great  relations 


GEOLOGY  OF  SCRIPTURE.  .       33 

the  fathomless  abysses  of  the  great  deep,  or  to  the  profound 
sources  of  volcanic  fires.  These  objects,  however,  great  as 
as  they  may  appear  in  the  common  scale  of  human  compari- 
son, almost  vanish  when  the  larger  and  more  correct  scale,  on 
which  the  whole  globe  has  been  framed,  is  applied  to  them. 
The  entire  diameter  of  the  earth  is  computed  at  about  8000 
miles.  Now,  the  loftiest  peak  upon  the  earth's  surface,* 
though  it  rises  to  the  enormous  elevation  of  upwards  oitwenty- 
six  thousand  feet,  is  but  Jive  such  miles  above  the  general  sur- 
face of  the  ocean.  In  like  manner,  the  greatest  depths  of  the 
ocean  sink  into  comparative  insignificance,  when  this  scale  is 
applied  to  them.  For  although  the  actual  measurement  of 
these  depths  is,  and  ever  must  remain,  beyond  the  reach  of 
human  art,  yet  we  have  the  strongest  reasons  (almost  amount- 
ing to  certainty)  for  supposing,  from  analogy,  that  the  form 
and  surface  of  the  bed  of  the  sea  have  no  greater  variation 
from  the  general  level  than  those  of  the  surface  of  the  dry 
land  ;-|-  and,  consequently,  that  while  there  may  be  depths  in 
the  ocean  extending  to  four  or  five  miles,  by  far  the  greater 

of  the  crust  of  the  globe,  and  of  its  mode  of  formation." — Edinburgh 
Encyclopedia,  JSTineralogy. 

It  has  been  well  observed,  that  greatness  is  only  a  comparative 
quality.  It  is  true,  that  Alpine  scenerj'  is  well  calculated  to  enlarge 
the  mind,  and  to  extinguish  notions,  formed  on  a  more  contracted 
view  of  tlie  earth's  surface.  But  even  this  enlarged  view  becomes 
conti-acted  in  its  turn,  unless  the  earth  be  viewed  upon  its  own  proper 
scale. 

*  Dhawalageri,  in  Asia.  Mount  Blanc  is  not  quite  three  miles 
above  the  same  level.  On  taking  the  mean  height  of  twenty-nine  of 
the  greatest  elevations  in  the  Old  World,  it  is  found  to  be  only  one 
mile  and  thi'ee-quaxHers.  The  mean  height  of  an  equal  number  in 
the  New  World  is  nearly  two  miles  above  the  level  of  the  sea. 

t  We  find  it  a  general  rule,  probably  without  any  material  excep- 
tion, that  where  a  country  is  low,  and  the  shore  flat,  tlie  neighbour- 
ing sea  is  shallow  in  about  the  same  proportion.  On  the  contrary, 
where  a  coast  is  mountainous,  and  the  cliff's  high  and  precipitous, 
there  we  find  the  sea  of  very  considerable  depth,  and  nearly  of  the 
same  form  under  water  as  above.  We  have  this  point  ably  illustra- 
ted in  the  sui-vey  of  the  German  Ocean,  with  sections  of  the  depths, 
in  six  different  lines,  from  tlie  shores  of  Great  Britain  to  those  of 
Holland,  Denmark,  and  Norway,  by  Mr.  Stevenson,  in  1820.  We 
come  to  the  same  conclusion  on  a  small,  but  generally  correct  scale, 
by  considering  any  fresh-water  lake,  the  shores  of  which  present  a 
variety  of  scenery.  In  all  the  Swiss  lakes  it  is  very  sti'iking;  and  in 
some,  where  the  immediate  shores  ai'e  of  great  elevation,  the  bottom 
of  the  lake  has  not  yet  been  found. 
D 


34  GEOLOGY  OF  SCRIPTURE* 

portions  of  it,  as  of  the  dry  land,  do  not  vary  more  than  from 
a  few  hundred  feet  to  half  a  mile,  from  positive  smoothness.* 

The  greatest  depths  that  have  ever  been  reached  by  actual 
soundings,  have  seldom  exceeded  one  mile.  Captain  Parry, 
however,  in  latitude  57  degrees  4  minutes  north,  longitude 
21  degrees  31  minutes  west,  and  about  one  hundred  leagues 
from  any  land,  found  no  bottom  with  the  deep  sea  clamms, 
and  a  line  of  1020  fathoms,  or  one  mile  and  280  yards,  being 
inore  than  a  quarter  of  a  mile  deeper  than  was  reached  by  lord 
Mul  grave. 

Mr.  Scoresby  sounded  in  latitude  75  degrees  50  minutes 
north,  longitude  5  degrees  50  minutes  west,  with  1058  fath- 
oms ;  and  in  latitude  76  degrees  30  minutes  north,  longitude 
4  degrees  48  minutes  west,  with  1200  fathoms  of  line,  or  one 
mile  and  640  yards,  in  neither  instance  finding  the  bottom. 
This  last  is,  probably,  the  greatest  depth  of  soundings  ever 
attempted. 

The  deepest  mines  that  man  has  yet  been  able  to  form,  do 
not  reach,  in  perpendicular  depth,  much  beyond  two  hundred 
fathoms,  or  not  more  than  about  a  quarter  of  a  mile.  M. 
Humboldt  saw,  in  1803,  a  mine,  in  Mexico,  which  was  to  be 
sunk  to  the  great  depth  of  1685  feet,  or  280  fathoms,  and 
which  was  to  require  twelve  years  for  its  completion,  which, 
however,  appeared  very  doubtful. 

In  viewing  even  volcanic  action  on  the  same  great  scale  by 
which  we  have  measured  the  mountains  and  the  depths,  we 
cannot  consider  these  awful  phenomena  of  burning  mountains 
as  more  than  superficial  pustules  on  the  mere  skin  of  the  earth. 

*  In  the  course  of  some  late  experiments  at  sea,  on  board  H.  M. 
sloop  Trinculo,  captain  Booth,  by  order  of  the  lords  of  tlie  admiralty, 
in  order  to  find  soundings  at  unusual  depths,  Mr.  Massey  made  use 
of  several  newly  invented  machines  for  this  purpose. 

He  sunk  a  copper  globe,  capable  of  sustaining  great  pressure, 
with  a  line  of  840  fathoms.  The  globe  was  enclosed  in  a  strong  net 
of  cord,  and  was  fixed  close  on  the  line,  at  about  40  fathoms  from 
the  lead.  Neither  globe  nor  lead  returned  to  the  surface;  the  globe 
had  exploded,  by  the  high  pressm-e,  and  the  line  appeared  as  if 
blown  ofi*  by  an  aii'-gun.  A  second  globe  was  sunk,  Avitb  a  gi'eater 
weight,  and  the  same  quantity  of  line,  and  it  was  inclosed  in  a  still 
stronger  netting,  made  of  log-line,  and  not  fixed  so  close  to  the  line 
as  in  the  former  trial.  In  this  instance  the  lead  returned  without 
having  reached  the  bottom;  but  tlie  globe  had  exploded,  and  the  net 
was  blown  to  pieces.  These  experiments  proved,  to  the  satisfaction 
of  Mr.  Massey  and  captain  Booth,  the  impossibility  of  counteracting 
tfie  effecta  of  high  pressure  offered  at  great  depths  in  tlie  sea. 


GEOLOGY  OF  SCRIPTURE.  35 

It  is  now  pretty  generally  understood,  and  acknowledged,  that 
water  is  one  of  the  most  active  agents  in  the  production  of  vol- 
canic fires ;  and  when  we  consider  the  number  of  volcanoes  in 
the  interior  of  our  continents,  which  have,  to  all  appearance, 
become  extinct  from  the  want  of  that  communication  with 
the  waters  of  the  sea,  which  obviously  must,  at  one  time,  have 
existed ;  and  that  almost  all  the  active  volcanoes  now  known 
are  situated  near  the  sea  coast,  and  rarely,  or  never,  far  in  the 
interior  of  large  continents,  we  have  very  great  reason  to  con- 
clude, that  the  utmost  depths  of  volcanic  action  are  not  much, 
if  at  all,  greater  than  those  we  have  found  reason  to  assign  to 
the  ocean  itself,  that  is,  from  one  to  Jive  miles. 

Catopaxi,  in  South  America,  is,  perhaps,  of  all  volcanic 
mountains,  the  most  distant  from  the  sea;  and  yet  it  is  only 
140  miles  from  the  shores  of  the  Pacific.  This  remarkable 
volcano,  which  is  nearly  19,000  feet  above  the  level  of  the 
sea,  presents  us  with  a  very  strong  corroboration  of  what  has 
been  said,  that  water  is  the  great  agent  in  volcanic  action ;  and 
that  the  deepest  source  of  this  activity  is  not  greater  than 
has  been  above  supposed.  This  volcano,  from  time  to  time, 
throws  up,  not  only  great  quantities  of  mttd,  but  also  innume- 
rable ^sA.  The  almost  extinct  volcano  of  Imbarbara,  has  also 
frequently  thrown  up  fish  in  such  quantities  as  to  cause  pu- 
trid exhalations  over  the  whole  neighbouring  countr)^  The 
species  of  fish  thus  thrown  up,  is  that  called  by  the  natives  of 
Quito,  permadilla,-  it  is  about  four  inches  in  length,  and  is 
almost  the  only  fish  found  in  the  lakes  and  waters  of  Quito : 
but  the  great  numbers  occasionally  thrown  out,  give  us  reason 
to  suppose  that  there  must  be  very  considerable  subterraneous 
lakes  in  the  calcareous  caverns  of  that  country  in  which  these 
fish  are  bred,  and  from  which  the  volcanic  action  of  these 
mountains  so  far  from  the  sea,  is  supplied  with  the  necessary 
quantity  of  water.  In  this  case  we  are  certain,  that  those  lakes 
cannot  be  at  any  very  great  depth  below  the  general  surface  of 
the  country,  as  the  fish  could  not  exist  deprived  of  atmospheric 
air. 

According  toHumboTdt,  the  volcanoes  of  America  scarcely 
ever  threw  out  lava',  but  chiefly  slag,  ashes,  pumice,  and 
vast  quantities  of  water  and  slime.  We  consequently  never 
hear  of  burnings  in  the  tremendous  eruptions  of  Quito,  but 
only  of  overflowings  of  slimy  mud.  During  the  great  earth- 
quake of  the  4th  of  February,  1797,  40,000  human  beings 
were  destroyed  by  the  water  and  mud  that  is^sued  from  tlio 


36  GEOLOGY  OP  SCRIPTURE. 

mountains.  In  the  description  of  the  mud  volcanoes  in  the 
island  of  Trinidad,  given  by  Dr.  Furguson,  in  the  Edinburgh 
Transactions,  one  of  the  party  who  was  examining  them 
picked  up  a  white  sea  shell  of  the  turbinated  kind,  in  the  act 
of  being  thrown  out  along  with  the  mud ;  a  very  sufficient 
proof  of  a  subterraneous  communication  with  the  sea. 

It  has  been  remarked,  that  no  known  volcano  is  seated  in 
granite^  nor  is  it  found  near  any  volcano,  except  in  very  low 
situations.  The  same  may  be  said  of  primitive  rocks  in 
general.  The  volcanic  formation  of  Iceland  is,  probably,  the 
most  extensive  in  the  world,  covering  a  space  of,  at  least, 
60,000  square  miles  ;  yet  there  is  no  appearance  of  primitive 
rock  in  the  whole  of  that  island,  though  the  mountains  reach 
an  elevation  of  nearly  6000  feet  above  the  sea.  One  eruption 
of  ^Etna  covered  a  space  of  fifty  leagues  in  circumference, 
and  one  hundred  and  twenty  feet  in  thickness,  with  calcare- 
ous sand  or  dust;  and  as  calcareous  earth  enters  very  spa- 
ringly into  the  composition  of  what  are  considered  primitive 
rocks,  though  it  forms  a  large  proportion  of  the  secondary, 
we  have  thus  another  strong  reason  for  supposing  that  volca- 
noes are  not  very  deeply  seated  in  the  earth. 

The  whole  volcanic  formation  of  which  Vesuvius  forms 
the  focus,  reposes  upon  the  secondary  lime  stone,  of  which 
the  Appenine  range  is  there  formed.  Of  this  we  have  vari- 
ous direct  proofs,  the  most  remarkable  of  which  is  the  fre- 
quent projection  of  calcareous  bodies  from  the  crater,  either 
in  an  unaltered,  or  in  a  modified  state.  When  we  connect 
this  fact  with  the  probable,  and  almost  obvious  communica- 
tion with  the  waters  of  the  neighbouring  sea,  we  cannot  but 
consider  it  as  highly  probable  that  the  focus  of  this  volcano 
is  at  a  depth  below  the  surface  of  the  land,  not  much,  if  at 
all,  greater  than  the  thickness  of  the  secondary  strata,  or  the 
depth  of  the  adjoining  sea. 

When  we  have  thus  reduced  to  their  true  and  proper  scale 
those  objects  on  the  earth's  surface  which  we  consider  g-rearf- 
est ;  and  when  we  further  consider  that  the  theories  of  philo- 
sophy on  the  formation  of  the  whole  earth,  are  formed  on  a 
view  of  the  minute  portions  of  its  diameter  to  which  we  have 
access,  these  portions,  not  being  more  than,  at  the  very  \^\,- 
most.  Jive  miles  in  height^  ^nd,  by  ?ina\ogy.  Jive  in  depth,  out  of 
8000  miles ;  how  trifling  does  the  theorist  appear  with  his 
cabinets  of  minerals  on  which  his  theories  are  founded.  Let 
him  cast  his  mind's  eye  along  the  diameter  of  a  section  of 


GEOLOGY  OF  SCRIPTURE.  37 

the  globe,  and  say  if  he  is  justified  in  forming  theories  of  the 
mode  of  Jirst  formations  on  so  slight  a  view  of  its  mere  sur- 
face.* 

Having  thus  corrected  any  false  notions  we  ma)^  have  formed, 
as  to  the  comparative  extent  of  objects  within  our  view ;  and 
having  thus  attained  the  proper  elevation  from  whence  we 
may  consider  and  study  the  globe  as  a  whole,  let  us  now  pro- 
ceed to  an  attentive  and  unprejudiced  consideration  of  it,  from 
the  earliest  times  of  which  we  have  any  record,  and  examine 
whether  that  record  is  contradicted,  or  corroborated  by  the  ap- 
pearances we  may  discover. 

We  find,  then,  that  the  most  remote  history  opens  with  the  as- 
sertion, that,  "  in  the  beginning  God  created  the  heaven  and  the 
earth ;  but  the  earth  was  invisible  and  unfurnished,  and  dark- 
ness was  upon  the  face  of  the  deep." 

I  shall  here  adopt  the  corrected  translation  of  the  Mosaic 
record,  from  the  numerous  authorities,  and  unanswerable  ar- 
guments brought  forward  by  Mr.  Granville  Penn,  in  his  ad- 
mirable work,  entitled,  the  "  Comparative  Estimate  of  the  Min- 
eral and  Mosaical  Geologies.'''*  That  estimable  writer  has 
proved,  in  the  most  satisfactory  manner,  that  the  tohu  vabohu 
of  the  Hebrew  text,  the  '  without  form  and  void''  of  our  trans- 
lation, was  uniformly  translated,  both  by  the  Septuagint,  and 

*  It  is  not,  perhaps,  surprising,  that  the  general  views  of  mankind 
are,  on  such  subjects,  so  very  confined;  for  the  globe  itself  is  as 
much  too  large  as  the  best  artificial  globes  are  too  small  for  general 
use. 

In  order  to  obviate,  in  some  degree,  both  objections,  I  have  occa- 
sionally formed  a  section  of  the  earth  upon  a  flat  sandy  beach,  upon 
the  scale  of  one  inch  to  a  mile  ;  and  I  have  found  that  such  a  scale 
materially  assists  the  mind,  in  correcting  false  judgments  on  this  ex- 
tensive subject.  We  have  thus  a  circle  of  8000  inches  in  diameter, 
or  of  222  yards,  which,  when  marked  out  with  small  stakes,  upon  a 
smooth  surface,  appears  an  immense  area.  Placing  ourselves  upon 
any  part  of  this  circumference,  we  have  an  opportunity  of  taking  a 
just,  though  microscopic  view  of  things  as  they  are.  The  very 
highest  mountain  is,  then,  fully  represented  by  five  inches!  the 
greatest  depth  of  the  ocean  by  the  same  little  span !  Avhile  we  can- 
not calculate  upon  more  than  one  inch  as  the  medium  variety  of  sea 
and  land  over  the  whole  of  this  vast  surface !  In  order  to  form  an 
idea  of  smaller  objects,  we  must  examine  an  inch  scale,  finely  grad- 
uated, and  that,  too,  by  the  aid  of  a  microscope ;  and  we  shall  thus 
find,  tliat  man  would  occupy  about  the  880tli  part  of  an  inch  in  his 
proudest  stature,  or  about  the  size  of  the  smallest  animalcula  ob- 
served in  fluids ! 
D  2 


38  GEOLOGY  OF  SCRIPTURE. 

by  the  Jewish  and  Christian  churches,  for  GOO  years  subse- 
quent to  the  Septuagint  translation  by  the  terms  invisible, 
(from  being  covered  with  the  waters)  and  unfurnished,  from 
having,  as  yet,  no  vegetation.* 

It  is  one  of  the  great  triumphs  of  human  intellect,  that  the 
globular  form  of  the  earth  is  proved  to  demonstration  ;  and  to 
this  has  been  added,  by  the  immortal  Newton,  the  certain 
knowledge  of  that  remarkable  fact,  that  the  globe  is  slightly 
flattened  at  the  poles,  and  may,  therefore,  be  termed  rather  an 
obtuse  spheroid,  \h'a\\?i  perfect  sphere. 

This  great  and  wise  man,  in  considering  the  nature  and  ori- 
gin of  all  things,  has  said,  "  it  appears  probable  to  me,  that 
God,  in  the  beginning,  formed  matter,  in  solid,  massy,  hard, 
impenetrable,  and  movable  particles,  of  such  sizes  and  figures, 
and  with  such  other  properties,  and  in  such  proportions  to 
space,  as  most  conduced  to  the  end  for  which  he  formed  them. 

"  All  material  things  seemed  to  have  been  composed  of  the 
hard  and  solid  particles  above-mentioned,  variously  associated 
in  the  first  creation  by  the  counsels  of  an  intelligent  agent.  For, 
it  became  him,  who  created  them,  to  set  them  in  order  ;  and  if 
he  did  so,  it  is  unphilosophical  to  seek  for  any  other  origin  of 
this  world,  or  to  pretend  that  it  might  rise  out  of  chaos  by  the 
mere  laws  of  nature ;  though,  being  once  formed,  it  may 
continue  by  these  laws  for  many  ages."j" 

"  When  Newton  had  remarked,  that  the  planets  present  to 
the  sight  figures  oi  obtuse  spheroids,  and  not  oi perfect  spheres ; 
when  he  had  reflected  upon  the  ?ia^wre  and  properties  of  that 
particular  figure,  and  had  contemplated  those  orbs,  as  subjected 
in  their  revolutions  to  the  opposing  actions  of  gravity  and 
centrifugal  force,  his  penetrating  mind  at  length  discovered, 
that  the  rule  of  harmony  and  equilibrium  between  these  two 
contending  powers  was  only  to  be  found  in  the  figure  of  an 
obtuse  spheroid. 

"In  order  to  render  this  fact  plain  to  the  understanding  of 

*  Comp.  Estim.,  vol.  i.  p.  ITS. 

I  must  here  acknowledge  the  very  important  services  that  have 
been  rendered  to  science  by  tbis  most  able  writer,  who  is  tlie  first 
that  bas  clearly  exhibited  some  of  the  most  important,  but  obscure, 
truths  of  Scripture,  in  connection  with  physical  facts,  open  to  our 
examination.  It  is  only  to  be  regretted,  that  tlie  necessarily  con- 
troversial cliaracter  of  the  compai'ative  estimate,  renders  it  a  work 
more  suited  to  the  mind  of  the  learned  than  of  the  general  reader. 

t  Optics,  Lib.  3. 


GEOLOGY  OF  SCRIPTURE.  39 

Others,  he  imagined  this  hypothetical  illustration.  '  7/",'  said 
he,  '  the  earth  were  formed  of  an  uniformly  yielding  sub- 
stance, and  if  it  were  to  become  deprived  of  its  motion,  the 
law  of  attraction  or  gi-avity^  acting  equally,  and  without  re- 
sistance, from  all.  points  of  its  surface,  towards  its  centre, 
would  cause  that  yielding  substance  to  settle  into  the  figure 
of  ?i  perfect  sphere.  But  if\t  were  then  to  receive  a //•a;z5t»er5e 
impulse,  causing  it  to  revolve  upon  its  axis,  this  new  impulse 
would  cause  a  centrifugal  force,  counteracting  the  force  of 
gravity,  by  urging  the  particles,  composing  the  yielding  sub- 
stance, from  the  centre  towards  the  circumference ;  and  thus 
would  produce  an  alteration  in  the  figure  of  the  sphere.  For 
this  new  force  would  tend  to  elevate  the  surface,  and  would 
have  most  power  at  the  equator,  and  least  at  ihepeles  ;  where- 
as, the  opposite  force  of  gravity  would  tend  to  depress  the 
surface,  and  would  have  most  power  at  the  poles,  and  least  at 
the  equator.  The  result  of  this  inequality  of  gravitation 
must  necessarily  be,  that  the  original  sphere,  becoming  eleva- 
ted at  the  equator,  but  not  at  the  poles,  and  the  power  by 
which  this  elevation  was  occasioned  gradually  diminishing 
from  the  equatar  to  the  poles,  the  figure  would  be  eventually 
changed  into  that  of  an  obtuse  spheroid.' 

*'  It  being  thus  shown  that  such  would  be  the  necessary  re- 
sult of  the  compound  power  of  gravity,  and  centrifugal  force, 
it  followed,  that  those  two  antagonist  forces,  acting  at  the 
same  time  in  the  earth,  (supposing  it  to  have  been  formed  of 
an  uniformly  yielding  substance,)  would  have  worked  them- 
selves into  harmony  and  equilibrium,^  by  assuming  that  figure, 
which  they  would  thenceforth  maintain.  Whereas,  if  we 
suppose  the  case  of  a  true  sphere,  which  should  consist  of  a 
solid  and  resisting  substance,  the  two  opposing  forces  would 
act  in  perpetual  and  violent  discord,  with  a  constant  tendency 
to  disunite  and  rend  the  texture  of  the  fabric.  Now  Newton 
having  maintained  that  God,  in  the  beginning,  formed  all 
material  things,  of  SMch.  figures  and  properties  as  most  con- 
duced to  the  end  for  which  he  formed  them  ;  and  having  de- 
monstrated that  the  property  of  an  obtuse  spheroid  was  thaf  which 
most  conduced  to  the  e?id  for  which  God  formed  the  earth, 
viz.  to  revolve  with  regularity,  and  with  perfect  harmony  in 
all  its  parts  ;  he  left  it  to  the  capacity  of  every  one  to  draw  the 
obvious  inference,  in  conformity  with  his  known  principles, 
viz.  that  it  is  highly  probable  that  God  has  formed  the  earth 
with  the  same   figure,  which  it  is  manifest  he  has  given  to 


40  GEOLOGY  OP  SCRIPTURE. 

the  Other  planets,  and  for  which  an  adequate  reason  is  thus 
rendered  plain  to  the  intelligence :  and  he  confirmed  this  ar- 
gument o{ prohahility  by  adding  the  positive  fact,  that  unless 
the  earth  actually  was  flatter  at  the  poles  than  at  the  equator, 
the  waters  of  the  ocean  constantly  rising  towards  the  latter, 
must  long  since  have  deluged  and  overwhelmed  the  equatorial 
regions,  and  have  deserted  the  polar  ;  whereas  the  waters  are 
now  retained  in  equilibiio  over  the  whole  surface  of  the 
globe."* 

Maclaurin,  in  his  account  of  Sir  Isaac  Newton's  philoso- 
phy, |  thus  draws  his  inference  from  the  above  clear  and 
beautiful  demonstration: — 

"What  we  have  said  of  a  fluid  ear^A  must  hold  good  of  the 
earth  as  it  is  ;  for  if  it  had  not  this  figure  in  its  solid  parts, 
but  a  spherical  figure,  the  ocean  would  overflow  all  tlie  equa- 
torial regions,  and  leave  the  polar  regions  elevated  many 
miles  above  the  level  of  the  sea ;  whereas  we  find  that  one 
is  not  more  elevated  above  that  level  than  the  other." 

The  supposed  figure  of  a  globe  of  an  yielding  substance, 
made  use  of  by  Newton,  merely  to  explain  the  effects  of  the 
two  great  forces  which  are  constantly  in  action  upon  the  earth, 
has  been  construed,  by  the  continental  philosophy,  into  an 
argument  in  favour  of  the  actual  primitive  fiuidity  of  the  globe 
in  a  chaotic  state  ;%  and  thence  it  has  argued,  that  that  par- 
ticular form  which  was  given  to  all  the  revolving  heavenly 
bodies,  by  the  great  wisdom  of  the  Creator,  to  obviate  the  ef- 
fects of  two  contending  powers,  was  assumed  by  the  globe  itself 
while  in  a  fluid  state,  by  the  mere  laws  of  nature.^ 

Nothing,  however,  could  be  further  from  the  ideas  of  New- 
ton, who  had  previously  stated  his  belief,  that  "05  God  had 
formed  matter  with  such  figure  and  proportions,  as  most  condu- 
ced  to  the  end  for  which  he  formed  it ;  and  as  the  enc?,  in  this 

*  Com.  Estim.  vol.  i.  p.  73.  +  Page  364. 

^  De  Luc.  Lett.  Geol.  p.   81. 

4  "  The  spheroidal  figure  of  the  earth,  its  crystalline  avid  sti'atified 
structure,  and  its  numerous  petrifactions,  are  proofs  of  its  original 
fluidity.  The  fluidity,  according  to  Werner,  was  aqueous  ;  and  he 
conjectures  tliat  the  various  rocks  were  originally  suspended  or  dis- 
solved in  water,  and  gradually  deposited  from  it." — Edin.  Encyclop. 
JHiiieralogy,  p.  408. 

It  has  beenalready  shown,  tliatthis  AVernerian  theory  of  primitive 
formations  is  entii-ely  at  variance  with  these  very  laws  of  nature,  to 
the  agency  of  which  alone  these  formations  were  attributed. — (See 
page  21.) 


GEOLOGY  OF  SCRIPTURE.  41 

instance,  was  regularity  and  harmony^  it  was  unpJdlosophical 
to  seek  for  any  other  origin,  either  for  the  substance^  or  the 
shajje  of  the  globe  ;  or  to  pretend  that  it  could  have  risen  out 
o^  a  chuos  by  the  mere  laws  of  nature." 

From  the  announcement,  ^then,  of  the  sacred  record,  that 
*'in  the  beginning,  God  created  the  earth  ;"  and  from  the  pre- 
ceding considerations,  from  the  great  mind  of  Newton,  on 
the  subject  of  this  announcement,  we  are  to  conclude,  that, 
*'  in  the  beginning"  our  globe  was  of  the  same  solid,  sphe- 
roidal figure,  we  now  find  it  to  be  ;  and,  consequently,  that 
granite,  and  all  other  rocks,  which  do  not  bear  the  stamp  of 
subsequent  formation  from  the  effects  of  those  laws,  com- 
monly called  of  nature^  but  in  reality  those  of  God,  and  to 
which  the  earth,  and  all  things  upon  its  surface,  have  been 
subjected  since  the  first  creation,  are  to  be  considered  as  prim- 
itive creations ,-  and,  also,  that  the  elastic  fluid,  forming  the 
firmament  or  atmosphere,  and  the  waters,  which  were  at  first 
spread  over  the  whole  surface,  but  were  afterwards  collected 
*'  into  one  place,"  at  the  command  of  the  Almighty,  are  to  be 
included  in  our  minds  as  primitive  ci-eations. 

It  appears  strange,  that  the  consideration  of  air  and  water, 
(we  may,  perhaps,  also,  include.^re,)  has  been  hitherto  omit- 
ted by  those  philosophers  who  have  formed  theories  on  the 
chaotic  formation  of  the  earth.  In  those  theories  we  hear  of 
nothing  but  the  formation  of  rocks  by  natural  or  secondary 
causes;  and  though,  by  some,  fire  was  considered  the  chief 
agent  in  these  formations,  and  by  others,  water,  we  have  no 
account  given,  or  attempted,  of  how  these  two  important  ele- 
ments first  came  into  existence.  Thus,  in  the  systems  of  the 
chaotic  philosophy,  out  of  the  four  elements  of  which  the  system 
of  our  globe  is  composed,  three  remain  utterly  unaccounted  for ; 
and  we  may  justly  add,  that  the  origin  of  l\\e primitive  elements, 
from  which  the  fourth  is  supposed,  in  those  theories,  to  have 
arisen,  is  equally  concealed  from  the  reason  and  understanding. 

Some  philosophers,  undeterred  by  the  apparent  impossibil- 
ity of  any  satisfactory  result,  have  attempted  to  ascertain 
the  mean  density  of  the  earth.  This  problem  only  admits  of 
an  approximated  solution,  derived  from  the  principles  of  univer- 
sal gravitation.  For  our  actual  view  of  the  interior  of  the 
earth  does  not  extend,  as  has  been  before  said,  to  more  than 
one-sixteenth  thousandth  part  of  the  whole.  The  calculations  of 
Dr.  Maskelyne,  from  observations  on  the  attra^^tion  of  the 
mountain,  called    Schehalien,  in  Perthshire,  followed   up  by 


42  GEOLOGY  OF  SCRIPTURE. 

Hutton,  Playfair,  and  Cavendish,  lead  us  to  the  same  con- 
clusions, which,  apriori,  we  should  have  expected  ;  viz.  that 
the  central  parts  of  the  earth  abound  with  some  species  of 
heavy  and  solid  matter;  and  as  our  inquiries,  v/ith  regard  to 
the  surface  of  the  globe,  are  in  np  way  afftcted  by  the  ques- 
tion of  its  interior  structure,  which  will  probably  remain  for- 
ever unknown  to  us ;  and  as  the  above  result  is  in  no  way  con- 
tradictory, either  to  our  reason^  or  to  history^  we  may  safely, 
assume  the  internal  solidify '  of  the  earth,  as  a  fact,  until 
stronger  reasons  are  adduced  in  opposition  to  it.* 

We  have,  then,  presented  to  the  mind,  on  the  first  day  of 
the  creation,  and  created  out  of  nothing,  by  the  incomprehen- 
sible power  of  the  Almighty,  a  solid  mineral  globe,  with  its 
surface  invisible,  (from  being  covered  with  a  thin  coating  of 
water,  and  there  being  as  yet  no  light,  for  "  darkness  was 
upon  the  face  of  the  deep.")  And  here,  it  is  not  without 
effort,  that  the  mind  is  restrained  within  the  limits  to  which 
our  present  inquiries  must  be  confined.  For  when  we  con- 
sider that  this  great  globe  is  but  a  small  member  of  a  stu- 
pendous system ;  and  that  even  that  system  is  lost  in  the  immen- 
sity of  other  systems  throughout  boundless  space,  the  appa- 
rent similarity  of  all  which  suggests  the  probability  of  each 
revolving  sphere  being  destined  to  the  same  ends  as  our  own  ;t 
the  mind  is  overwhelmed  with  the  extent  of  the  prospect,  ana 
with  our  own  incomparative  insignificance,  which  would  al- 
most induce  a  doubt  of  the  reality  of  those  numerous  bless- 
ings which  we  feel  have  been  conferred  upon  us  by  our  Ma- 
ker. There  is,  indeed,  nothing  that  so  completely  over- 
whelms the  finite  mind  of  man,  as  the  discoveries  which  his 
genius  and  his  reason  have  enabled  him  to  make  in  astron- 
omy;  by  which  he  finds,  that,  great  as  cur  solar  system  is, 
the  immensity  of  space  is  filled  with  such  systems,  each 
moving  in  its  own  sphere,  and  all  retained,  in  the  most  won- 

*  The  tei'ms  so  commonly  used  in  geological  writings,  the  amsi  of 
the  earth,  is  but  too  well  adapted  to  mislead  the  mind  as  to  the 
true  nature  of  the  globe,  which,  as  far  as  we  know,  or  can  under- 
stand, is  solid  throughout.  The  above  term  would  seem  to  imply 
?i  mere  outer  shell,  covering  a  hollow  interior.  Of  the  many  false  or 
problematical  ideas  of  men,  there  is,  perhaps,  none  more  comm.on  or 
unfounded  than  that  which  attributes  to  the  globe  a  hollow  interior. 

+  We  may  say  of  the  universe,  what  Pascal  has  so  beautifully  ex- 
pressed of  the  immensity  of  God  :  "  C'est  un  cercle  infini,  done  le 
centre  est  partout,  et  la  eircor.ference  nullepjirt," 


GEOLOGY  OF  SCRIPTURE.  43 

derFiil  regularity  and  order,  by  the  laws  to  which  the 
Creator  has  submitted  them.  When  we  raise  our  thoug-hts, 
from  our  own  little  planet,  to  the  contemplation  of  so  bound- 
less a  creation,  it  is  not  without  the  utmost  effort  of  the  mind 
that  we  can  connect  time^  and  more  especially  3,sh-9)'t  time,  with 
such  immensity.  But  we  must  keep  in  mind,  while  dwelling 
on  such  subjects,  that  man's  most  erroneous  notions  of  creation^ 
arise  from  the  necessity  he  experiences  of  connecting  length 
of  time^  with  extent^  or  difficulty  of  operation  in  his  own  finite 
labours.  We  must  not  forget  that  most  of  our  great  astronomical 
discoveries  have  been  founded  on  our  own  earth,  and  its  sin- 
gle satellite,  as  a  base :  and  if,  in  the  study  of  this  earth,  we 
find  it  revealed  to  us  in  the  most  unequivocal  manner  by  his- 
tory, and  corroborated  by  physical  facts,  that  our  planet  has 
not  existed  more  than  what  may  appear  to  us  infinitely  too 
short  a  tim.e  for  the  formation  of  so  great  and  so  perfect  a  body, 
we  have  no  power  to  limit  this  discovery  to  an  individual 
member  of  the  solar  system ;  we  must  extend  it  to  the  whole, 
upon  the  same  principle  of  analogy  on  which  so  many  astro- 
nomical discoveries  have  been  suggested,  and  subsequently 
demonstrated  to  be  true  ;  our  reason  must  bend,  with  whatever 
difiiculty,  to  so  conclusive  a  corollary.  But  this  is  a  field 
much  too  wide  for  our  finite  comprehensions.  We  cannot 
proceed  far  on  such  inquiries  as  the  present,  without  the  con- 
viction being  pressed  upon  us,  that  "  the  ways  of  God  are  not 
as  our  ways,  nor  his  thoughts  as  our  thoughts."  We  feel  the 
necessity  of  curbing  our  curiosity  respecting  the  state  of  o^Aer 
planets,  and  of  other  systems ;  and  we  must  be  satisfied  and 
thankful  for  the  merciful  dispensations  it  has  pleased  the 
Almighty  to  bestow  so  abundantly  upon  our  own. 
•  We  must  feel  satisfied,  however,  from  what  history  an- 
nounces, and  our  reason  corroborates,  that  not  only  our  own 
earth,  but  the  whole  of  our  solar  system,  started  into  being 
at  the  same  instant,  and  by  the  same  incomprehensible  and 
Almighty  power  ;  and  that  the  laws  by  which  the  revolutions 
of  the  various  members  of  our  system  are  regulated  and 
preserved,  were  enacted  on  this,  the  first  day  of  the  creation  ; 
when,  though  the  sun  had  not  yet  actually  sJione  forth,  it  yet  pro- 
duced the  effect  of  light,  and  of  the  "  eve7iing  and  the  morw- 
m^,"  which  "were  the  first  day." 

It  is  here  scarcely  necessary  for  us  to  dwell  upon  that 
most  remarkable  part  of  the  first  day's  creation,  the  fiat  that 
light  should  appear  J  as  it  has  no  very  intimate  connexion  with 


44  GEOLOGY  OF  SCRIPTURE. 

the  geology  of  the  earth,  and  has  been  most  justly  admired  by 
all  who  are  capable  of  reading,  or  expounding  the  sacred  vol- 
ume. The  remark,  however,  ought  not  to  be  omitted,  that 
the  distinct  mention  of  the  evening  and  the  morning,  forming 
each  particular  day,  has  always  proved  an  insurmountable 
difficulty  in  the  theories  of  a  chaotic  philosophy,  which,  in 
acknowledging  the  days  of  Scripture,  though  it  assigns  to 
them  a  much  longer  period  of  time  than  one  revolution  of  the 
earth  on  its  axis,  has  yet  been  unable  to  give  any  reasonable 
explanation  of  the  terms  evening  and  morning,  as  forming 
one  day.*  The  idea  of  assigning  unlimited  periods  to  the 
days  of  creatio?i,  as  recorded  by  Moses,  has  only  arisen  from 
the  necessity  of  a  longer  period  than  24  hours  for  the  com- 
pletion of  so  great  a  chemical  process  as  the  supposed  produc- 
tion of  the  earth  from  chaos.  But  if  first  formations  were 
not  the  consequence  of  a  chemical  process,  which  Newton 
considered  most  unphilosophical,  and  which  our  reason,  and 
common  sense  most  decidedly  condemns,  then  the  extension 
of  the  period  demanded  for  their  production  becomes  unneces- 
sary. 

It  may  here  be  objected,  that  if  an  Almighty  power  were 
able  to  create  the  universe  in  a  perfect  state,  why  should  the 
work  have  occupied  a  period  of  six  days  %  Why  should  not 
all  things  have  started  into  being,  as  light  is  described  to  have 
done,  instantaneously  ?  The  only  answer  that  can  be  made 
to  such  objections,  is  simply,  that  it  was  the  will  of  God,  who, 
in  his  wisdom,  appears  to  have  had,  in  this,  an  ulterior  moral 
view  for  the  good  of  mankind,  and  for  the  commemoration  of 
his  own  power  and  glory  by  his  creatures.  Time  has  accord- 
ingly been,  by  his  express  command,  subdivided  mto  six  days 
of  labour,  and  one  of  rest:  and  so  much  of  the  divine  wisdoni 
may  be  traced  in  this  arrangement,  that  it  has  been  generally 
admitted  by  the  wisest  men  who  have  considered  the  subject, 
that  no  human  ingenuity  could  improve  upon  it. 

*  There  is  a  very  general  traditionary  notion  amongst  all  nations, 
that  darkness  preceded  light.  In  Otaheite,  the  natives  consider 
tliat  darkness  was  the  origin  of  all  things. 

Aristotle  says,  "  the  theologians  argue  that  all  things  sprung  from 
darkness  :  philosophers  say  that  all  things  were  mingled  togetlier." 
—Metaph.  L   14.  c.  6. 

"As  darkness  preceded  light,  so  tlie  night  of  the  Hebrew  compu- 
tation always  preceded  the  day  ;  thus  in  a  manner  perpetuating  a 
commemoration  of  the  transactions  of  Uic  first  day  of  the  creation." 
—  Comparative  Estimate. 


GEOLOGY  OF  SCRIPTURE.  45 

There  is  also  a  strong  argument  to  be  found  in  the  divine 
command  which  establishes  the  hebdomadal  division  of  time, 
against  the  theories  which  demand  an  extension  for  the  days 
of  the  creation : — "  Six  days  shalt  thou  labour,  and  do  all 
that  thou  hast  to  do ;  but  in  the  seventh  day  thou  shall  do  no 
work ;  for  in  six  days  the  Lord  made  heaven  and  earth,  the  sea, 
and  all  that  therein  is,  and  rested  the  seventh  day ,-  therefore 
remember  this  seventh  day,  to  keep  it  holy."  In  this  com- 
mandment the  days  of  creation,  and  working  days  of  twenty- 
four  hours,  are  so  completely  identified  in  the  sense  and  con- 
struction, that  nothing  but  that  species  of  force,  so  often  resort- 
ed to  by  philosophy,  in  support  of  a  week,  but  favourite  theory, 
can  separate  them. 

Now,  a  creation  by  an  Almighty  power  may  as  easily  be 
the  work  of  one  moment,  as  of  a  thousand  years ;  and  though 
the  laws  of  chemistry  are  now  found  to  produce  crystals,  un- 
der the  hands  of  the  chemist,  the  great  mind,  even  of  a  Davy, 
has  never  yet  produced  either  a  vegetable  or  an  animal  forma- 
tion ;  and  there  is,  consequently,  no  ground  for  this  demand 
for  time,  with  respect  to  any  of  the  Mosaic  days  on  which 
these  creations  were  first  called  into  being.  But  we  have  no 
reason  to  suppose  that  there  was  any  variation  in  the  length 
of  the  Mosaical  days,  which  are  each  defined  in  a  manner  so 
similar  and  distinct.  We  can,  therefore,  come  to  no  other 
conclusion,  than  that  the  Mosaical  days  were  such  periods  of 
24  hours,  as  have  ever  since  continued  in  succession,  and  will 
continue  till  "  time  shall  be  no  more.'''' 


CHAPTER  II. 

The  Second  Day  of  the  Creation. — The  Firmament,  or  Atmo- 
sphere,— Atmospheric  Phenomena. — Magnetism,  and  Electri- 
city. 

We  now  come  to  the  consideration  of  the  second  day  of 
the  creation,  in  which  it  pleased  the  Almighty  to  create,  and 
set  in  order,  the  firmament,  or  atmosphere,  by  which  the  whole 
globe  was  to  be  surrounded. 

"  And  God  said,  let  there  be  a  firmament  in  the  midst  of 
the  waters  ;  and  let  it  divide  the  waters  from  the  waters  :  and 
God  made  the  firmament,  and  divided  the  waters  which  were 
under  the  firmament,"  (or  upon  the  earth,)  "  from  the  waters 
which  were  above  the  firmament,"  (or  in  the  clouds,)  "  and 
it  was  so." 

It  were  as  vain  to  inquire  into  the  mode  of  the  creation  of 
the  atmospheric  firmament,  or  firm  support,  by  which  the 
whole  globe  is  embraced,  and,  in  a  manner,  hermetically 
sealed,  as  into  that  of  granite,  or  of  water.  We  have,  there- 
fore, nothing  left  us,  but  to  receive  the  fact  as  recorded,  as 
this  is  a  part  of  our  earth  to  which  the  principles  of  crystalli- 
zation will  not  apply,  and  which  the  chaotic  philosophy  has 
not  yet  accounted  for  by  secondary  causes.  It  may  be  permit- 
ted to  us,  however,  to  form  some  idea  of  the  state  of  the  new 
earth  at  the  termination  of  the  "  first  day,"  and  of  the  effects 
produced  by  the  fiat  of  the  second.  We  have  already  arrived 
at  the  conclusion,  that  as  the  "  evening  and  the  morning"  had 
formed  the  "  first  day,"  the  sun  was  already  created,  although 
nothing  more  than  its  effects  of  light  had  yet  appeared.  The 
power  of  the  sun  must  now,  however,  have  begun  to  act  by 
those  laws,  by  which  it  has  ever  since  been  regulated ;  and 
this  power,  acting  upon  the  earth,  with  its  watery  envelope, 


GEOLOGY  OF  SCRIPTURE.  47 

must  have  produced  the  effect  of  a  thick  fog,  which  was  now 
to  be  evaporated,  and  raised  high  into  the  new  atmosphere, 
thus  dividing  "  the  waters  which  were  under  the  firmament" 
from  the  aqueous  vapours  which  were,  from  hence  forward, 
to  be  suspended  "  above,"  (or  in  the  higher  parts  of)  "  the 
firmament." 

Although  the  consideration  of  the  atmosphere  does  not, 
strictly  speaking,  come  within  the  scope  of  a  geological  in- 
quiry, yet  it  may  not  be  altogether  irrelevant  to  our  subject 
to  make  a  few  observations,  in  this  place,  upon  this  highly 
important  portion  of  creation,  by  the  action  of  which  the  de- 
composition of  a  portion  of  the  earth  is  continually  proceed- 
ing, and,  consequently,  the  materials  for  secondary  formations 
are  as  constantly  being  produced. 

The  atmosphere,  or  firmament,  is  that  elastic  fluid  which 
surrounds  the  earth,  and  encloses  it  on  all  sides.  This  fluid, 
so  little  understood  by  the  ancients,  has  occupied  much  of  the 
attention  of  modern  philosophers,  and  has  given  birth  to  some 
of  the  most  remarkable  discoveries  of  modern  science.  Its 
weight  was  first  ascertained  by  Galileo,  and  applied  by  Torri- 
celli  to  explain  the  rise  of  water  in  pumps,  and  of  mercury  in 
the  barometer.  Its  elasticity  was  accurately  determined  by 
Boyle  ;  and  the  effects  produced  upon  it,  by  heat  and  moisture, 
have  been  explained  by  Halley  and  Newton.  That  atmo- 
spheric air  is  a  heavy,  compressible,  and  elastic  substance,  has 
been  proved  by  many  simple  and  direct  experiments ;  and,  in 
consequence  of  its  weight,  the  portion  of  it  nearest  the  earth 
is  compressed  by  the  whole  of  the  superincumbent  mass,  and 
it  is  thus  much  more  dense  in  the  lower,  than  in  the  upper 
regions. 

The  air,  in  the  higher  regions,  therefore,  must  be  extremely 
rare,  from  its  elastic  nature  not  being  opposed  by  any  pres- 
sure from  above  ;  and,  in  this  state,  it  becomes  gradually  un- 
fitted for  the  support  of  animal  life,  as  has  been  painfully 
experienced  by  those  adventurous  travellers  who  have  as- 
cended the  highest  mountains.  Some  attempts  have  been 
made  to  calculate  the  height  above  the  earth  to  which  the  at- 
mosphere extends.  If  the  density  of  air  were  uniform,  it  would 
be  easy  to  ascertain  this  point,  by  means  of  the  data  placed 
within  our  reach,  by  the  discovery  of  the  barometer ;  and, 
upon  this  supposition,  the  height  of  the  atmosphere  would  be 
found  to  be  a  little  more  than  five  miles.  But  as  this  is  not 
the  case,  and  as  the  air  gradually  diminishes  in  density,  its 


48  GEOLOGY  OF  SCRIPTURE. 

Utmost  height  must  be  much  greater.  From  observations 
which  have  been  made  on  the  duration  of  the  twilight,  or  re- 
flected light  which  we  enjoy  from  the  sun,  after  that  luminary 
has  itself  disappeared,  and  before  he  again  rises,  the  atmo- 
sphere has  been  calculated  to  extend  to  about  thirty-six  miles 
above  the  surface  of  the  earth ;  and  it  is  even  probable  that 
it  exceeds  that  elevation,  which,  though  it  appears  great  to 
us,  is,  in  fact,  not  so,  when  compared  with  the  diameter  of  the 
whole  globe;  and  not  more  in  proportion,  than  a  few  coats  of 
varnish  on  a  common  artificial  globe. 

The  atmosphere,  then,  is  like  a  thin  transparent  veil  around 
the  earth,  which  multiplies  and  propagates  the  light  of  the 
sun,  by  an  infinity  of  reflections;  and  it  is  by  means  of  these 
that  we  enjoy  day-light  before  the  sun  has  risen,  and  after  he 
has  set.  If  the  atmosphere  did  not  exist,  each  point  upon  the 
earth's  surface  would  only  receive  the  light  from  the  rays 
which  fell  upon  it,  direct  from  the  sun.  Wherever  the  sun 
did  not  actually  shine,  complete  darkness  would  reign.  On 
the  tops  of  the  highest  mountains,  it  has  been  observed,  that 
the  sun's  rays  are  so  little  reflected,  that,  when  placed  in  the 
shade,  one  can  see  the  stars  at  noon-day ;  and  what  appears 
blue  sky,  in  the  lower  regions,  seems  there  almost  Mack. 

It  is  upon  the  same  principle  of  reflection  of  the  rays  of  the 
s\jn,  in  our  atmosphere,  that  we,  and  other  inhabitants  of  the 
temperate  and  high  latitudes,  enjoy  more  of  twilight,  both  in 
the  evening  and  morning,  than  the  inhabitants  of  tropical 
countries,  where,  as  soon  as  the  sun  has  set,  and  until  he 
again  rises,  there  is  almost  total  darkness,  except  from  the 
light  of  the  moon  and  stars.  Our  longer  twilight  arises 
from  the  inclined  position  of  the  earth's  axis,  from  which 
position  the  sun's  rays  not  falling  so  vertically,  as  in  tropical 
regions,  pass  through  the  atmosphere  in  a  slanting  direction, 
and,  consequently,  through  a  longer  extent  of  air,  and  with  a 
greater  variety  of  reflections,  thus  producing  light  long  after 
the  sun  has  set,  and  before  he  has  risen. 

It  is  within  the  range  of  this  firmament,  that  all  the  meteoric 
phenomena,  in  constant  action  around  us,  are  generated.  Rain, 
dew,  hail,  and  snow,  are  all  occasioned  by  moisture  imbibed 
by  the  atmosphere,  from  the  evaporation  of  the  liquid  portions 
of  the  earth's  surface,  and  acted  upon  by  various  degrees  of 
heat  from  the  sun. 

The  winds,  in  all  their  various  degrees,  from  the  gentle 
zephyr  to  the  raging  storm,  are  all  produced  by  the  action  of 


GEOLOGY  OF  SCRIPTURE.  49 

heat  upon  this  elastic  fluid  :  and  when  we  consider  that  the 
mineral  surface  of  the  earth  is  constantly  and  violently  acted 
upon  hy  the  circulation  thus  kept  up  by  means  of  the  at- 
mosphere, we  can  have  no  difficulty  in  understanding  how 
materially  it  must  effect  geological  secondary  formations. 

Amongst  the  latest  discoveries  of  science  connected  with 
the  phenomena  of  this  vital  element,  is  the  very  intimate  con- 
nexion now  found  to  exist  between  magnetism  and  electricity. 
There  is,  perhaps,  nothing  in  the  whole  range  of  natural 
phenomena  which  has  excited  more  the  admiration  of  man- 
kind, and,  at  the  same  time,  been  obscured  with  more  com- 
plete darkness  than  the  principle  of  magnetism ;  and  it  may 
be  considered  as  a  distinct  proof  of  the  difficulty  of  the 
subject,  to  observe,  that  few  have  even  been  the  theories 
produced  in  order  to  account  for  it.  A  ray  of  light  has  now, 
however,  been  shed  upon  the  subject,  by  the  discovery  of  a 
few  remarkable  facts ;  and  it  is  probable  that  in  a  few  years 
more  the  active  mind  of  man  may  overcome  this  hitherto 
insuperable  problem.* 

On  the  second  day,  then,  of  the  creation,  this  most  vital 
part  of  the  earth's  system  was  ordained,  and  submitted  to 
those  laws  which  have  ever  since  continued  in  action.  The 
moisture  exhaled  from  the  newly  created  waters,  by  the  newly 
created  sun,  was  elevated  from  the  surface  of  the  globe,  still 
hid  under  its  watery  covering,  and  was  suspended  in  the 

*  A  most  remarkable  accident,  which  occurred  on  the  13th  of 
April,  1832,  has  served  to  thrbw  some  light  on  the  intimate  con- 
nexion between  electricity  and  magnetism.  A  gentleman  and  lady, 
whilst  travelling  in  Worcestershire,  on  the  hind  box  of  their  own 
carriage,  were  overtaken  by  a  violent  thunder-storm,  and  both  were 
struck  by  the  electric  fluid  so  violently,  that  their  lives  were  in  great 
danger  for  some  weeks  afterwards.  A  minute  and  most  interesting 
account  of  this  accident  and  its  effects,  is  given  in  tbe  "London  and 
Edinbui'gh  Philosophical  Magazine,"  for  September,  1832.  It  is 
only  necessary  here  to  allude  to  these  effects  on  the  steel  and  iron 
work  through  which  the  electric  fluid  had  passed  in  its  course.  It 
was  found  to  have  communicated  a  highly  magnetic  power  to  all 
these  articles.  The  balance-wheel  of  the  gentleman's  watch  was, 
amongst  others,  so  highly  magnetized,  that  it  has  since  been  mounted 
as  a  compass. 

In  further  illustation  of  this  most  interesting  subject,  it  has  lately 
been  discovered  that  a  vivid  spark  of  fii-e  is  produced  on  the  sudden 
removal  of  a  steel  point  from  a  powerful  magnet.  Tbis  effect  is 
now  exhibited  in  London,  in  the  National  Gallery  of  Science  in  the 
Strand. 

E    2 


50  GEOLOGY  OF  SCRIPTURE. 

higher  regions  of  the  firmament,  to  descend  upon  the  future 
dry  land  in  fruitful  showers. 

The  sun  itself,  however,  was  not  yet  made  to  appear  through 
the  clouds,  although  its  light  again  produced  a  second  morning, 
which,  with  its  preceding  evening,  formed  "  the  second  day.'''' 


CHAPTER  III. 


The  gathering  together  of  the  Waters. — The  Sublimity  of  this 
Fiat  of  the  Creator  not  sufficiently  understood. — The  Transi- 
tion Mocks. 

We  now  come  to  the  consideration  of  the  events  which 
took  place  on  the  third  day  of  the  creation,  viz.  "  the  gather- 
ing together  of  the  waters  unto  one  place,"  and  the  consequent 
appearance  of  the  "  dry  land." 

"  And  God  said,  let  the  waters  under  the  heaven  be  gathered 
together  unto  one  place,  and  let  the  dry  land  appear ;  and  it 
was  so." 

And  this  great  fiat  of  the  Almighty  was  to  produce  the 
first  great  geological  secondary  formations  which  we  find 
upon  the  earth's  surface ;  and  as  the  laws  which  were,  in  the 
course  of  time,  to  give  rise  to  all  the  other  secondary  forma- 
tions, were  from  this  time  forth  to  come  into  action,  it  will 
be  necessary  for  us  to  give  our,  utmost  attention  to  the  con- 
sideration of  this  great  change  upon  the  surface  of  the  earth. 

We  have  before  remarked,  that,  during  the  first  and  second 
days  of  the  creation,  the  earth  must  have  presented  to  the 
view  (had  any  human  eye  existed  to  look  upon  it,)  a  solid 
globe  of  spheroidal  form,  covered  with  a  thin  coat  of  aqueous 
fluid,  and  already  revolving  on  its  axis  as  a  member  of  the 
solar  system.  We  are  fully  authorized  in  coming  to  this 
latter  conclusion,  from  the  distinct  mention  made  in  the 
record,  of  the  days,  comprising,  like  our  present  days,  the 
evening  and  the  morning,  with  the  darkness  and  the  light 
following  each  other  in  regular  succession.  The  sun,  it  is 
true,  had  not  yet  been  made  visibly  to  appear,  or  to  shine 
through  the,  as  yet,  cloudy  atmosphere ;  nor  had  the  moon 
yet  become  visible,  from  an  additional,  and  yet  more  interest- 


52  GEOLOGY  OF  SCRIPTURE. 

ing  and  remarkable  reason,  which  of  itself,  ought  to  be  looked 
upon  as  confirmative  of  this  view;  and  that  is,  that  supposing 
her  to  have  been  placed  on  the  first  day  of  the  creation,  (when 
we  are  to  conclude  that  the  whole  solar  system  started  into 
being,)  in  the  relative  situation  as  to  the  sun  and  the  earth, 
which  she  has  ever  since  held  at  that  period  of  her  course 
when  we  give  her  the  title  of  a  new  moon,,  it  was  not  possible 
she  could  have  been  seen  from  the  earth  "  until  the  third 
evening  of  her  revolution,  according  to  our  computation,  which 
exactly  answers  to  the  fourth  evening  of  the  Mosaical  days ; 
our  computation  connecting  the  evening  with  the  preceding 
day-light,  but  the  Mosaical  computation  with  the  succeeding 
day-light:"*  and  on  this  very  day,  accordingly,  and  not  till 
then,  she  was  made  to  appear  at  sun-set,  to  rule,  or  lead  on 
the  night,  as  the  sun  was  ordained  to  rule  and  conduct  the 
day. 

It  was  now  the  will  of  the  Creator  that  the  earth  should  no 
longer  be  ^^ invisible'''  under  its  watery  covering;  and,  ac- 
cordingly, the  command  was  given,  that  "  the  waters  should 
be  gathered  together  unto  one  place,"  that  the  "  dry  land" 
might  appear.  In  considering  this  great  event,  it  becomes  a 
natural  and  fair  question,  as  it  has  been  left  open  to  us  by 
the  record,  as  to  the  mode  or  means  by  which  it  must  have 
taken  place.  The  well-poised  earth  had  already  begun  to 
revolve  upon  its  axis ;  and  the  laws  of  gravitation  and  of 
fluids  had  consequently  began  to  act  in  our  system.  By  these 
laws,  it  was  impossible  that  the  waters  could  have  been 
gathered  together  by  accumulation,  or  above  the  general  level, 
as  the  solids  of  the  earth  might  have  been.  We  can,  there- 
fore, come  to  no  other  conclusion  than  that  to  which  we  are 
also  led  by  various  parts  of  the  inspired  writings,  viz.  that 
God  did  "rend  the  depths  by  his  intelligence,"  and  formed 
a  depression,  or  hollow,  on  a  part  of  the  solid  globe,  within 
which,  by  the  appointed  laws  of  fluids,  the  "  depths"  were 
"  gathered  together." 

And  here  we  should  naturally  feel  disposed,  if  the  inquiry 
could  be  expected  to  lead  to  any  satisfactory  result,  to  inquire 
how  a  hollow  could  be  formed  in  so  solid  a  mass  as  we  must 
conceive  the  primitive  earth  to  have  been.  But,  in  this  in- 
quiry, we  should  be  adopting  that  very  hypothetical  reasoning 
which  has  so  often  led  to  error,  and  which  we  have  already 

*  Comp.  Estim.  vol.  i.  p.  230. 


GEOLOGY  OF  SCRIPTURE.  53 

found  such  reason  to  condemn.  The  record  is  distinct ;  the 
fact  of  water  requiring  a  hollow  bed  is  undeniable.  The  means 
of  forming  that  bed,  we  may  safely  refer  to  the  hands  of  him 
who  could  create  the  ocean  himself  which  it  was  to  contain.* 
It  were  equally  vain  and  futile  to  enter  here  upon  the  disputed 
points  respecting  the  solidity  or  the  hollow  nature  of  the  globe ; 
because,  when  we  apply  to  this  bed  of  the  ocean  the  true  and 
proper  scale  by  which  we  have  already  examined  other  parts 
of  the  earth's  surface,  we  shall  find  the  depression  necessary 
for  containing  the  whole  waters  of  the  earth,  so  very  trifling 
compared  with  the  globe  itself,  as  not  in  any  way  to  be  af- 
fected by  either  side  of  such  arguments  ;  for  we  have  found 
reason  to  concludef  that  the  very  deepest  abysses  of  the  ocean 
are  not  more  than  from  four  to  five  miles  below  the  level  of  its 
surface ;  and  that  the  mean  depth  over  the  whole  sea  cannot 
be  considered  more  than  from  ?iifew  hundred  feet  to  half  a  mile. 

In  considering,  then,  such  comparatively  diminutive  de- 
pressions upon  the  earth's  surface,  it  is  by  no  means  neces- 
sary either  to  imagine  the  "  vast  disruption  and  depression 
of  the  solid  frame-work  of  the  globe ;"  or  to  enter  upon  the 
question  as  to  the  solid  or  cavous  state  of  the  7990  miles  of 
its  diameter,  which  must  for  ever  remain  concealed  from  our 
view. 

The  following  beautiful  reflections  on  this  part  of  our  sub- 
ject are  from  the  enlightened  mind  of  Mr.  Granville  Penn, 
who  may,  indeed,  be  called  the  first  great  advocate  for  the 
Mosaic  Geology,  amongst  the  men  of  science  of  our  day. 
"  The  briefness  of  this  clause  (Genesis  i.  9,)  and  the  nature 
of  the  subject,  have  caused  it  to  be  little  contemplated  in  pro- 
portion to  its  importance,  and  to  the  fulness  of  the  instruction 
which  it  conveys ;  and,  therefore,  it  has  not  been  observed 
that  the  same  sublimity  which  is  universally  perceived  in 
the  clause,  '  Let  there  be  light,  and  there  was  light,'  subsists 
equally  in  this  clause.;  '  Let  the  waters  be  gathered  together 
unto  one  place,  and  let  the  dry  land  be  seen,  and  it  was  so.' 
The  sentiment  of  sublimity  in  the  former  clause,  results  from' 
the  contemplation  of  an  instantaneous  transition  of  the  uni- 
verse from  the  profoundest  darkness  to  the  most  splendid 

*  "He  spake  tlie  word,  and  they  were  made  :  He  commanded, 
and  they  Avere  created. 

"  He  hath  made  them  fast  for  ever  and  ever  :  He  hath  given  them 
a  law  which  shall  not  be  broken." — Psalm  cxlviii. 

t  See  chap.  i.  p.  42. 


54  GEOLOGY  OF  SCRIPTURE. 

light,  at  the  command  of  God.  All  men  familiarly  apprehend 
the  sadness  of  the  former,  and  the  delight  of  the  latter ;  and 
they  are,  therefore,  instantly  sensible  of  the  glorious  nature 
of  the  change  which  was  then  so  suddenly  produced.  But 
the  nature  of  the  change  which  must  necessarily  have  taken 
place,  in  suddenly  rendering  visible  a  part  of  a  solid  globe, 
the  universal  surface  of  which  had  been  overflowed  and  con- 
cealed by  a  flood  of  waters,  is  not  so  familiarly  or  so  in- 
stantly apprehended ;  the  mind,  therefore,  does  not  care  to 
dwell  upon  it,  but  is  contented  with  receiving  the  general 
information  that  the  sea  was  formed.  Hence,  both  commenta- 
tors and  geologists  have  equally  failed  to  draw  the  immediate 
and  necessary  inference  from  the  revelation  of  that  great  and 
undeniahle  geological  fact.'' '  * 

There  is,  besides,  this  further  reason  for  our  regarding  the 
creation  of  light  with  more  wonder  and  admiration  than  that 
of  the  "gathering  together  of  the  waters;"  that  however 
great  and  stupendous  the  latter  operation  must  have  been,  it 
comes  more  easily  within  the  scope  of  our  intelligence  than 
the  former.  We  can  imagine  to  ourselves  secondary  causes 
which  could  produce  hollows  in  the  surface  of  the  earth,  but 
the  creation  of  light  is  far  beyond  the  reach  of  our  finite  un- 
derstandings. Although  we  can  study  its  effects,  and  al- 
though science  has  made  many  brilliant  discoveries  with 
regard  to  these  effects,  yet  we  can  in  no  way  comprehend  its 
origin.  Its  nature  is  beyond  our  reach  :  its  creation,  there- 
fore, excites  our  admiration,  in  proportion  to  the  difficulty  we 
feel  in  comprehending  it ;  but  we  are  not,  on  this  account,  to 
form  an  erroneous  estimate  of  the  great  operation  which  we 
are  now  to  consider;  for  the  formation  of  a  bed  for  the  ocean 
could  be  the  work  of  that  intelligence  alone,  which  was  able, 
at  the  first,  to  create  that  ocean. 

This  depression,  small  as  it  proves  to  be,  compared  with 
the  diameter  of  the  whole  earth,  was  sufficiently  deep  and 
extensive  to  cause  vast  changes  in  the  structure  of  a  great 
part  of  the  surface  of  the  globe.  In  whatever  mode  the  bed 
of  the  ocean  was  sunk,  it  is  quite  certain  that  the  shores  of 
the  newly  gathered  waters  must  have  been  left  in  a  rough, 
broken,  and  precipitous  state.  The  descending  portion  of  the 
solid  earth,  which  was  to  form  the  bottom  of  the  new  sea, 
must  have  been  subjected  to  extensive  fracture  and  derange- 

*  Comp.  Estim.,  vol.  i.  p.  212. 


GEOLOGY  OF  SCRIPTURE.  55 

ment,  and  must  instantly  have  been  acted  upon  by  that  con- 
tinual movement,  and  circulation,  which  were  then  decreed, 
and  have  ever  since  been  kept  up,  in  the  great  body  of  the 
waters.*  The  tides,  and  the  currents,  these  unceasing  agents, 
would  then  commence  their  unwearied  labours;  and  the  im- 
mense debris  of  primitive  rocks,  would,  by  constant  move- 
ment and  friction,  be  reduced  to  the  various  stages  in  which 
they  are  now  often  found.  From  that  day  forth,  the  vapours 
exhaled  from  the  waters  by  the  heat  of  the  sun,  were  to  be 
converted  into  the  various  meteoric  phenomena  with  which 
the  firmament  is  charged.  The  clouds  were  to  descend  upon 
the  now  "dry  land;"  the  rills,  the  brooks,  the  rivers,  were 
now  to  begin  their  never  ending  courses,  each  charged  with 
its  load  of  moveable  particles,  destined  to  be  deposited  in  the 
bed  of  the  new  sea.  The  sands,  and  gravels  of  the  new  shores, 
would  then  be  unmixed  with  those  various  secondary,  or  shelly 
substances,  we  now  find  amongst  them  in  such  abundance. 
Their  appearance  would  then  be  altogether  crystalline  and 
primitive  ;  and  the  first  strata  arranged  by  the  ocean  on  the 
granitic  surface  of  the  sea's  bed,  would  naturally  be  formed 
of  such  substances,  and  without  any  vestige  of  animal  bodies 
which  had  not  then  been  created ;  and  which,  though  soon 
afterwards  "brought  forth  abundantly,"  could  not,  for  a  long 
time,  have  left  their  shelly  remains  in  the  abundance  we  have 
reason  to  know  they  subsequently  did.| 

*  "  The  transition  rocks  include  a  considerable  variety  of  earthy- 
substances  5  but  they  are  generally^  composed  of  the  primitive  rocks, 
reduced  to  a  state  of  disintegi*ation,  apparently  by  a  mechanical 
cause,  and  afterwards  re-united  into  conglomerate  masses,  by  some 
kind  of  cement,  of  an  argillaceous  or  calcareous  nature."— £f/m. 
Encyclop.  Physical  Geography,  p.  488. 

t  "  No  fossil  remains  have  ever  been  found  in  what  are  termed  the 
oldest  formations.  In  tlie  ti-ansition  rocks,  "(tlie  formation  of  some 
of  which  we  are  above  considering,)  "where  they  first  occm",  they 
are  but  very  rare;  yet  in  the  newer"  (or  upper)  "  transition  rocks 
they  increase  considerabl}'^  in  quantity.  In  the  flcetz  formations  they 
continue  increasing  in  quantity  to  tlie  newer  formations.  "—jEf/m. 
Encyclop.  JMineralogy ,  p.  409. 

In  considering  the  fossil  remains  of  shell  fish,  Avhich  are  by  far  the 
most  abundant  of  all  fossils,' we  must  remember  tliat  the  accumula- 
tion of  tlieir  shelly  remains  would  be  progressive.  Those  of  the  first 
generation,  for  instance,  would  exist  through  many  generations  of 
living  fish  ;  and  at  the  end  of  a  hundred  generations,  we  should  find 
nearly  all  the  shells  of  these  generations,  though  the  numbers  of  liv- 
ing creatures  were  not  increased  from  tlie  first  year.     We  can  tims 


56  GEOLOGY  OF  SCRIPTURE. 

If  an  opportunity,  therefore,  were  given  us  for  the  examina- 
tion, we  should  expect  to  find  various  strata  composed  of 
broken  masses  of  primitive  rocks,  reposing  upon  these  same 
rocks  in  their  solid  and  unbroken  condition.  The  opportuni- 
ty has  been  placed  within  our  reach,  and  we  do  find  such  strata 
as  were  to  be  anticipated,  and  to  which,  even  the  chaotic  ge- 
ology has  given  the  name  of  transition  or  fragmentary  forma- 
tions ;  a  name  evidently  suggested  by  their  appearance  and 
composition. 

It  is  not  my  intention,  in  this  place,  to  proceed  with  the 
consideration  of  the  three  last  days  of  the  creation,  as  record- 
ed in  the  Mosaic  history,  because  they  do  not  present  the  same 
grounds  for  geological  inquiry  which  are  to  be  found  in  the 
operations  of  the  first  three  days,  which  we  have  now  been 
considering.  We  have  seen  that  the  creation  of  the  primitive 
portions  of  the  earth,  that  is,  of  rock^  of  water,  and  of  the  aerm/ 
atmosphere  surrounding  both,  could  have  been  effected  only  by 
the  fiat  of  the  Almighty  architect  of  the  universe.  We  have 
found  no  reason  to  cast  a  shadow  of  doubt  upon  the  Mosaic 
record,  where  it  informs  us  that  the  various  parts  of  creation 
were  produced  in  six  separate  and  distinct  days,  which,  from 
their  evenings,  and  their  mornings,  must  have  each  comprised 
one  revolution  of  the  globe  upon  its  axis.  On  the  contrary, 
we  have  seen,  that  the  very  remarkable  coincidence  of  the  first 
visible  appearance  of  the  moon,  at  the  very  time  alone  when 
she  could  have  been  first  seen  from  the  earth,  (viz.  on  the  third 
evening  of  her  revolution,)  affords  us  the  strongest  corrobora- 
tive evidence  of  the  truth  of  that  part  of  the  record.  Since 
we  have  found  reason  to  conclude,  that,  at  the  end  of  the  third 
day,  all  those  laws  by  which  the  earth  was  afterwards  to  be 
governed  (excepting  those  of  animated  beings  which  had  not 
yet  been  created,)  had  begun  to  act;  that  the  various  influences 
of  the  sun,  and  of  the  moon,  were  from  this  time  forth  to  be  in 
force;  it  now  remains  for  us  to  proceed  to  the  consideration 
of  these  laws,  and  of  these  influential  causes ;  and  to  endeavour 
to  discover  whether  they  are  not  sufficient  to  produce  many  of 
the  secondary  appearances,  so  general  over  the  whole  surface 
of  the  earth. 

easily  and  naturally  account  for  the  scarcity  of  fossil  shells  in  the 
earlier  formations,  and  for  their  progressive  abundance  in  the  subse- 
quent ones. 


CHAPTER  IV. 


Constant  Changes  in  Nature. — Origin  of  Secondary  Forma- 
tions. — Primitive  Soils,  for  the  Nourishment  of  a  Primitive 
Vegetation. — Constant  Circulation  in  the  Fluids  of  the 
Earth. — Springs,  Brooks,  and  Rivers. — The  Tides. — Their 
Cause  Explained. — The  Currents  of  the  Ocean,  and  their 
present  existing  System, — Effects  naturally  arising  from  these 
powerful  Causes. 

Taken  in  a  general  sense,  we  may,  perhaps  not  unaptly, 
liken  our  earth,  surrounded  with  its  atmosphere,  to  the  vari- 
ous contents  of  a  vessel  hermetically  sealed  up,  and  kept  in 
constant  agitation.  This  continued  movement  would  cause  a 
constant  change  in  the  relative  situation  of  every  part  of  its 
contents.  But  the  exact  number,  or  quantity,  would  for  ever 
remain  the  same.  No  extraneous  substance  could  find  ad- 
mittance ;  no  particle  from  within,  could  escape.  Thus  every 
created  atom  now  contained  within  our  atmosphere  must  have 
been  so,  under  some  form  or  other,  "  in  the  beginning." 

It  requires  but  a  slight  glance  around  us  to  perceive,  that 
by  the  laws  to  which  all  things  have  been  submitted  by  the 
Almighty,  (to  which  we  generally  give  the  unmeaning  name 
of  the  laws  of  nature,)  matter  is  constantly  assuming  a  differ- 
ent form.  The  stately  oak  moulders  into  dust,  and  becomes 
food  for  other  plants.  The  ox  changes  grass  into  flesh ;  his 
flesh  passes  at  his  death  into  other  beings,  who,  in  their  turn, 
undergo  the  same  metamorphosis.  All  created  beings  move, 
without  ceasing,  from  one  form  to  another.  Man  himself,  be- 
ing laid  in  the  earth,  fertilizes  the  soil :  his  flesh  becomes 
food  for  plants,  which  are  eaten  by  animals,  which  man,  in 
his  turn,  devours.  His  Creator  has  announced  to  him  this 

F 


58  GEOLOGY  OF  SCRIPTURE. 

great  truth,  "  For  dust  thou  art,  and  unto  dust  thou  shalt  re- 
turn."* Even  the  most  solid  portions  of  the  mineral  world 
are  not  exempted  from  the  influence  of  these  laws.  The  primi- 
tive and  solid  granite,  when  acted  upon  by  co/c?,f  by  heat,  or 
by  moisture.,  becomes  slowly,  but  gradually  decomposed.  Its 
minute  parts  become  detached,  and  are  removed  far  from  their 
•parent  rock,  by  the  action  of  the  running  waters.  Frequent 
movement  rubs  off  their  angles  ;  they  assume  a  new  form  ; 
they  are  known  by  a  new  name  ;  they  become  sand  or  gravel. 
In  either  of  these  new  forms,  they  are  hurried  to  the  great 
deep,  and  add  their  mite  to  that  immense  treasury.  The  same 
currents  in  the  ocean  bring  the  same  materials,  until  either 
the  one  becomes  expended,  or  the  other  differently  directed. 
A  bed,  or  stratum,  is  formed,  which,  under  certain  circum- 
stances, becomes  hardened  into  stone.  It  again  assumes  a 
new  form,  and  is  again  known  by  yet  another  name ;  it  be- 
comes ihe  freestone,  or  conglomerate  of  geologists.  Thus  we 
may  trace  the  materials  of  secondary  formations  to  the  de- 
composition of  the  primitive  creations. 

"  The  primitive  rocks  of  Werner  are  the  following,  amount- 
ing to  fourteen  :  granite,  gneiss,  micaceous  schistus  or  mica 
slate,  argillaceous  schistus  or  clay  slate,  primitive  limestone, 
primitive  trap,  including  hornblend  and  greenstone,  serpen- 
tine, porphyry,  sienite,  topaz  rock,  quartz  rock,  primitive 
flinty  slate,  white  stone,  and  primitive  gypsum. 

."  Some  geologists  consider  this  catalogue  as  too  limited, 
and  include  jasper,  hornstone,  pitchstone,  and  puddingstone, 
in  the  number  of  primitive  rocks.  All  these  rocks,  though 
some  of  them  be  occasionally  found  mingled  or  alternated  in 
strata  with  each  other,  are  crystalline  deposits,  and  are  abso- 
lutely without  any  trace  of  organic  remains,  either  of  plants 

*  "  To  say  with  Pythagoras,  that  the  soul  of  a  man  can  pass  into  the 
body  of  a  bird,  is  to  extend  to  a  moral  sense,  this  great  truth  in  natural 
history.  Nothing  can  be  more  contraiy  to  reason  or  revelation  than 
this  idea  ;  but,  on  the  other  hand,  nothing  is  more  certain,  than  that 
the  alimentary  matter  of  Avhich  a  body  is  composed,  is  transformed 
into  the  flesh  of  the  vulture  that  devours  it. 

t  Mr.  Scoresby,  in  his  account  of  Spitzbergen,  says,  "  the  invari- 
ably broken  state  of  the  rocks,"  (upon  a  high  mountain,  the  ascent  of 
which  he  was  attempting,)  "  appeared  to  be  the  effect  of  frost.  No 
solid  rock  was  met  with,  and  no  earth  or  soil.  On  calcareous  rocks 
not  impervious  to  moisture,  the  effect  is  such  as  might  be  expected  ; 
but  how  frost  can  operate  on  quartz,  is  not  so  easily  understood. — 
Arctic  Regions y  vol.  i.  p.  122. 


GEOLOGY  OF  SCRIPTURE.  59 

or  animals.  All  rocks  not  included  in  the  foregoing  catalogue 
(except  those  called  alluvial)  are  termed  secondary^  because 
they  are  found  to  contain  more  or  less  of  organic  remains : 
but  it  has  been  observed  that  the  four  rocks  found  in  imme- 
diate succession  to  the  preceding  fourteen  do  not  contain  or- 
ganic remains  of  the  same  characters  as  the  rest.  For  al- 
though they  contain  some  shells  common  to  those  in  immedi- 
ate succession  to  them,  they  alone  are  found  to  contain  zoo- 
phytes^  a  species  of  animal  which  is  considtred  as  forming  the 
Jirst  link  in  the  chain  of  animated  heings^  none  of  which  are 
found  in  any  of  the  succeeding  rocks.  Werner  has  called 
these  four,  transition  rocks,  as  connecting  the  primitive  with 
the  newer  or  fleet z  (flat)  rocks,  containing  abundant  fossil  re- 
mains, but  by  others  they  are  included  in  secondary  forma- 
tions.^^— Phillips^ s  Geology. 

We  have,  in  a  former  part  of  this  treatise,  considered  the 
question  of  zoophytes  being,  as  Mr.  Phillips  here  states, 
"  the  first  link'm  the  chain  of  animated  beings."  It  may  now 
be  sufficient  in  this  place  to  point  out,  that  as  it  is  one  part  of 
the  nature  of  zoophytes  to  inhabit  the  depths  of  the  ocean, 
and  there  to  become  fixed,  as  plants  are  by  the  roots,  without 
having  it  in  their  power,  like  the  other  inhabitants  of  the 
deep,  to  clear  themselves  from  the  sediments  that  are  con- 
stantly being  deposited,  their  remains  are  found  in  a  fossil 
state,  as  we  should  naturally  have  anticipated,  amongst  the 
very  earliest  of  these  secondary  strata,  and  before  the  re- 
mains of  the  testaceous  animals  could  have  accumulated  in 
any  great  numbers. 

The  question  then  occurs,  what  were  the  primitive  crea- 
tions ]  and  were  they  confined  to  the  small  number  of  rocks 
now  considered  as  such  by  geologists'?  We  feel  quite  satis- 
fied that  all  the  calcareous  and  secondary  formations  now 
known  as  such,  did  not  exist  in  their  present  form  in  the  be- 
ginning ;  because  they  contain  the  fossil  remains  of  animals 
or  vegetables  which  are  often  preserved  in  their  most  delicate 
parts,  and  which,  consequently,  must  have  been  embedded  at 
a  period  when  these  hard  rocks  were  in  the  state  of  soft  mud. 
But  as  the  materials  for  the  formation  of  these  soft  beds,  must 
have  originally  been  furnished  from'  some  primitive  creation ; 
and  as  a  minute  examination  of  them  does  not  generally  ex- 
hibit a  crystalline  appearance  such  as  is  supposed  to  charac- 
terize primitive  rocks,  it  becomes  a  highly  important  con- 
sideration whether  our  present  ideas  of  primitive  creations 


60  GEOLOGY  OF  SCRIPTURE. 

are  sufficiently  extended.  For  example,  what  conclusion  do 
we  come  to  from  a  minute  examination  of  the  composition  of 
chalky  which  forms  so  extensive  a  portion  of  secondary  forma- 
tions ■?  Its  particles  are  of  the  finest  earthy  nature,  and  no  ap- 
pearance can  be  detected  of  any  of  the  constituent  parts  of 
what  are  considered  j5r/?wi7/tje  rocks.  In  the  finer  sorts  of  clay 
we  find  the  same  smooth  earthy  character ;  and  all  limestone 
formations  may  perhaps  be  included  in  this  remark.  Some 
geologists  have  supposed  that  all  limestone  is  as  much  an 
animal  formation  as  coral.*  This  idea  is  probably  unfounded  ; 
for  if  we  can  trace  the  fonnation  of  this  extensive  class  of 
secondary  rocks  to  the  bed  of  the  antediluvian  ocean,  we 
shall  find  reason  to  conclude  that  all  these  earthy  formations, 
containing  sea  shells,  must  have  been  gradually  formed  by 
the  accumulation  of  the  finer  particles  of  primitive  decompo- 
sition. 

Are  we  to  suppose,  then,  at  the  end  of  the  six  days  of  the 
creation,  when  the  new  earth  had  been  brought  forth,  adorned 
with  "  grass,  and  the  herb  yielding  seed,  and  the  fruit-tree 
yielding  fruit  after  his  kind,"  that  all  this  vegetable  world  was 
nourished  upon  the  solid  primitive  rocks,  which  in  the  present 
day  are  found  to  be  utterly  unfitted  for  vegetation  1  Are  we 
to  conclude  that  the  same  Almighty  Power,  which  could  cre- 
ate solid  granite,  together  with  all  the  varieties  of  the  vegeta- 
ble world,  could  not  also  provide  the  proper  soils  in  which 

*  It  is  not  a  little  remarkable,  that  in  all  the  secondaiy  rocks  of 
Europe,  although  we  have  many,  consisting  of  ahnost  one  mass  of 
shells,  we  find  none  which  we  could  suppose  were  formed  by  insects, 
in  the  same  manner  as  the  coral  reefs  are  intlie  present  seas  of  south- 
ern latitudes.  The  extent  of  the  coral  formation  is  truly  remarka- 
ble. The  great  coral  reef,  on  the  east  coast  of  New  Holland,  extends 
unbroken  for  350  miles,  forming,  with  others,  more  or  less  connect- 
ed with  it,  a  reef  upwards  of  1000  miles  in  length,  and  varying  from. 
20  to  50  in  breadth.  As  these  reefs  are  known  to  be  always  founded 
in  very  deep  water,  they  would  form,  if  laid  dry,  a  calcareous  forma- 
tion, before  which  many  of  our  considerable  mountain  ridges  would 
shrink  in  the  comparison.  We  cannot,  perhaps,  find  a  more  convinc- 
ing argument  in  favour  of  the  unchanged  position  of  the  axis  and  the 
poles  of  the  earth  since  the  creation,  than  in  the  total  absence  of 
coral  reefs  in  the  secondary"  formations  of  northern  and  temperate 
latitudes.  Had  the  present  poles  of  the  earth  been  in  the  situation 
of  the  present  equatorial  regions,  before  the  deluge,  which  is  one  of 
the  prevailing  arguments  and  sources  of  error  and  confusion  in 
modern  geology,  we  should  certainly  have  found,  in  our  secondary 
quarries,  the  petrified  remains  of  formei'  cox'al  reefs. 


GEOLOGY  OF  SCRIPTURE.  61 

vegetables  were  to  be  nourished  ]  No. — The  idea  would  be 
worthy  of  that  philosophy  which  imagines  all  things  to  have 
been  at  first  in  an  imperfect  state,  and  that  their  present  order 
and  beauty  have  gradually  arisen  by  the  mere  laws  of  nature. 
It  is  more  consistent  with  reason,  as  well  as  with  the  histori- 
cal Record,  to  conclude,  that  as  vegetables  of  every  descrip- 
tion were  created  perfect^  there  must  have  been  a  soil  also 
created  at  the  first,  and  suited  to  the  nourishment  of  this  new 
vegetable  creation. 

The  consideration  of  the  component  parts  of  the  loose  allu- 
vial soils,  and  of  their  origin,  has,  in  general,  been  set  aside, 
or  overlooked  by  geologists;  and  x)ur  present  soils  are  so 
mixed  up  with  decomposed  animal  and  vegetable  matter,  that 
we  cannot,  from  them,  form  a  distinct  idea  of  what  they  origi- 
nally must  have  been.  But  if  we  deny  that  a  pure  soil  must 
have  existed  from  the  very  first,  we  adopt  the  doctrine  of 
secondary  causes.  We  must,  in  that  case,  suppose  that  vegeta- 
tion began,  and  gradually  proceeded  in  much  the  same  man- 
ner as  is  observed  on  the  lava  thrown  out  by  volcanoes;  which, 
for  many  years  after  it  has  cooled,  remains  solid  and  totally 
barren,  and  which  first  admits  of  only  the  most  minute  spe- 
cies of  mosses  ;  but  by  the  gradual  decomposition  and  renewal 
of  these,  and  by  the  atmospheric  action  upon  the  lava  itself,  a 
soil  is  gradually  formed,  which  proves  in  the  end  extremely 
fertile. 

We  have  before  found  reason,  however,  to  come  to  a  differ- 
ent conclusion.  W^e  have  found,  with  Newton,  "that  it 
became  Him  who  created  all  things,  to  set  them  in  order; 
and  if  He  did  so,  it  is  unphilosophical  to  seek  for  any  other 
origin  of  things,  or  to  pretend  that  they  might  have  arisen, 
by  the  mere  laws  of  nature." 

We,  therefore,  conclude,  that  there  must  have  been  a  pri- 
mitive soil  for  the  support  of  a  primitive  vegetatio7i ;  that  that 
soil  must  have  been  loose  and  friable,  as  at  present,  and  sub- 
ject, like  the  present  soils,  to  continual  movements  by  cur- 
rents ;  and  that  it  would,  consequently,  afford  the  materials  for 
many  of  the  secondary  rocks,  which  geologists  cannot  other- 
wise account  for. 

I  do  not  here  propose  entering  into  the  mazes  of  hypothesis, 
by  attempting  to  define  what  were  the  actual  primitive  crea- 
tions in  the  mineral  world;  but  as  secondary  formations  must 
always  have  been  in  progress,  (as  they,  even  now,  are  going 
on)  occasioned  by  the  combined  action  of  the  atmosphere  and 
F  2 


62  GEOLOGY  or  SCRIPTURE. 

the  currents,  their  materials,  however  earthy^  must  have 
originally  been  primitive;  and  if  a  primitive  vegetable  crea- 
tion required  support  from  a  primitive  soil,  w^e  shall  find,  in 
the  varieties  to  be  naturally  expected  in  such,  soils,  a  source 
for  the  variety  we  observe  in  the  colour  and  grain  of  second- 
ary rocks. 

It  may  be  demanded,  what  cause  can  be  assigned  for  the 
variety  in  the  colours  of  the  different  secondary  formations  1 
As  well  might  a  cause  be  sought  for  the  varied  colours  of  the 
primitive  rocks,  or  the  varied  tints  of  the  animal  or  vegetable 
world.  When  the  colours  of  the  tiger,  the  zebra,  or  the  but- 
terfly, are  accounted  for,  we  may  hope  for  information  as  to  the 
cause  of  chalk  or  Carrara  marble  being  white,  and  other  calca- 
reous formations  being  of  such  variety  of  shades,  down  to  the 
blackest  marble.  There  can  be  no  other  reason  given  for  such 
endless  variety,  but  X\iewill  of  a  Beneficent  Creator,  who  has 
thought  fit  thus  to  adorn  his  incomprehensible  creation  with  in- 
numerable objects,  well  fitted  to  convince  the  most  sceptical 
mortal  who  will  be  at  the  pains  to  study  them,  that  neither  ac- 
cident,  nor  the  laws  of  chemistry  alone,  could  have  produced 
such  admirable  variety. 

It  has  already  been  observed,  that  the  currents  in  the  wa- 
ters of  the  earth  are  the  great  agents  by  which  almost  all  se- 
condary formations  have  been,  and  still  are,  carried  on.  In 
order  to  render  this  more  plain  to  the  intelligence,  it  will  be 
necessary,  in  this  place,  to  enter  somewhat  at  large  into  the 
subject,  and  to  trace  the  operations  of  nature  now  going  on 
under  our  eyes. 

It  is  certain,  then,  that  there  is  a  continual  circulation  kept 
up  in  the  waters  of  the  earth.  The  heat  of  the  sun  causes 
an  immense  evaporation  from  both  sea  and  land.  The  va- 
pours thus  raised,  become  either  visible  or  invisible,  according 
to  the  degree  of  heat  in  the  atmosphere ;  and  thus,  when 
cooled  either  by  their  contact  with  mountains,  or  by  currents 
of  cold  air  from  the  poles,  they  become  condensed  into  drops, 
and  fall  upon  the  earth  by  their  own  weight,  in  the  form  of 
rain  or  snow.  But  although  the  supplies  of  rivers  are  very 
materially  influenced  by  the  moisture  derived  from  the  atmo- 
sphere, in  the  form  of  rain  or  snow,  we  must  be  convinced  that 
a  more  steady  and  constant  supply  must  be  obtained  from 
some  other  source ;  otherwise  many  rivers  would  become  com- 
pletely dried  up  during  the  summer  months,  when  they  are 
most  wanted  for  the  support  of  both  animal  and  vegetable  life. 


GEOLOGY  OF  SCRIPTURE.  63^ 

This  steady  supply  may  be  traced,  in  all  hilly  or  mountainous 
countries,  from  whence  streams  generally  flow,  to  the  never 
failing  sp7'ings  invariably  found,  more  or  less,  in  such  situa- 
ations,  and  which  have  given  rise  to  much  discussion 
amongst  philosophers,  to  account  for  such  pure  and  copious 
streams,  which  are  but  little  affected  by  the  changes  of  wet  or 
dry  seasons  of  the  )''ear.  It  is  to  the  action  of  the  atmo- 
sphere alone  that  we  must  look  for  a  solution  of  this  problem. 
The  day  is  gone  by,  when  it  was  supposed  that  there  was 
some  internal  communication  between  the  sea,  and  the  springs 
in  the  mountains,  by  means  of  w^hich  those  pure  and  cooling 
fountains  were  kept  in  continual  action.  The  whole  process 
is  now  familiarly  exhibited  to  our  view  in  our  every  dining- 
rooms,  by  observing  the  effects  of  heated  air  on  the  surface 
of  the  cold  caraffes  upon  our  tables.  It  has  been  before  ex- 
plained, that  a  great  quantity  of  moisture  is  absorbed  by  "the 
atmosphere,  from  the  surface  of  the  waters  of  the  earth,  oc- 
casioned by  the  heat  of  the  sun  :  this  moisture  is  generally 
evaporated  in  an  invisible  form  ;  but  it  nevertheless  pervades, 
in  a  greater  or  less  degree,  every  part  of  the  atmosphere,  and 
becomes  visible  in  the  form  of  clouds,  when  cooled  by  cold 
currents  of  air,  or  by  contact  with  mountains,  the  surface  of 
which  is  colder  than  the  temperature  of  the  surrounding  at- 
mosphere. But  even  in  the  finest  and  clearest  weather,  these 
watery  vapours  hover  around  us,  in  an  invisible  shape,  and 
become  condensed  in  the  form  of  dew  on  the  surface  of  rocks, 
or  of  plants,  during  the  absence  of  the  sun,  and  thus  afford 
nourishment  to  vegetation  even  during  the  hottest  weather. 

But  in  the  hilly  and  mountainous  districts,  these  vapours 
are  constantly,  more  or  less,  condensed  upon  the  surface  of 
the  rocks  or  of  the  ground;  and  trickling  down  the  sides  and 
fissures,  guided  by  the  direction  of  the  strata,  they  occasion- 
ally meet  with  obstructions  through  which  they  cannot  pass, 
and  are  thus  forced  upwards  to  the  surface,  and  break  forth  in 
the  foim  of  springs,  which  never  cease  to  flow,  because  the 
source  from  which  they  are  supplied  can  never  cease  to  act.* 

*  It  is  to  this  particular  action  of  the  atmosphere,  when  coming  in 
contact  with  a  lower  temperature  than  its  own,  that  we  can  ofteu 
trace  the  cause  of  that  dampness  in  our  houses,  which  nothing  can 
ever  entirely  obviate.  Granite,  whinstone,  and  some  other  rocks,  are 
highly  objectionable,  as  building  materials,  on  account  of  their  great 
coldness  ;  and  in  houses  built  of  such  materials,  one  may  always  ob- 
serve, in  winter,  on  a  change  from  frost  to  thaw,  a  dewy  appearance 


64  GEOLOGY  OF  SCRIPTURE. 

Every  one  is  familiar  with  the  effects  of  rain.  A  heavy 
fall  upon  the  tops  of  the  mountains  detaches  the  various  sized 
particles  already  loosened  hy  the  action  of  the  atmosphere. 
They  are  hurried  along  by  the  little  rills  into  the  brooks,  by 
the  brooks  into  the  rivers,  and  finally  by  the  rivers  into  the 
sea,  the  waters  of  which  are  partially  tinged  with  these  tur- 
bid streams.  Every  river,  in  the  whole  earth,  is  more  or 
less  heavily  charged  with  earthy  matter,  on  its  reaching  the 
parent  ocean.  The  nature  and  colour  of  this  muddy  mixture 
must  depend  upon  those  of  the  countries  through  which  the 
rivers  flow. 

Having  now  traced  the  course  of  this  earthy  matter  to 
the  sea,  it  becomes  necessary  to  observe  in  what  way  it  is 
disposed  of,  in  the  bosom  of  the  depths ;  and,  for  this  pur- 
pose, w^e  must  consider  the  nature  and  action  of  this  great 
body  of  waters.  The  continual  influence  of  the  moon,  aided 
in  a  less  powerful  degree  by  the  attraction  also  of  the  sun,  is 
known  to  be  the  occasion  of  the  tides  which  assist  in  keeping 
up  the  circulation  of  the  waters.*     But  a  much  more  power- 

standhig  thick  upon  the  surface,  and,  in  the  end,  running  down  in 
copious  streams,  like  a  violent  perspiration.  The  common  objection 
made  to  such  stones,  is,  that  they  retain  moisture,  and  perspire  at 
certain  times  ;  this,  however,  is  a  vulgar  error. 

If  a  house  be  built  upon  a  clay  soil,  the  dampness,  which  is  a  usual 
consequence,  does  not  arise  so  mucli  from  the  clay  being  wet  in  itself, 
as  from  its  great  coldness,  which  condenses  the  warm  air  of  the  at- 
mosphere, and  thus  forms  a  constant  moisture.  It  is  obvious,  then, 
that  sand  stone,  or  brick,  as  a  material,  and  a  light  sandy  soil,  as  a 
foundation,  must  produce  the  most  dry  and  healthy  dwelling. 

*  The  following  clear  description  of  the  tides  is  given  by  Sir  Da-. 
vid  Brewster,  in  his  "Life  of  Sir  Isaac  Newton." 

"  One  of  the  great  subjects  to  which  Newton  applied  the  princi- 
ples of  attraction  and  gravity,  was,  the  tides  of  the  ocean.  Philoso- 
phers of  all  ages  had  recognized  the  comiection  between  the  phenom- 
ena of  the  tides,  and  the  position  of  the  moon.  That  the  moon  is  the 
principle  cause  of  the  tides  is  obvious,  from  the  well  known  fact, 
that  it  is  high  water  at  any  given  place  about  the  time  when  she  is  in 
the  meridian  of  that  place  ;  and  that  the  sun  performs  a  secondary 
part  in  their  production,  is  proved  by  the  circumstance,  that  the  high- 
est, or  spring  tides,  take  place  when  the  sun,  the  moon,  and  the  earth, 
are  all  in  a  straight  line  ;  that  is,  when  the  force  of  the  attraction  of 
the  sun  conspires  Avith  that  of  the  moon ;  and  that  the  lowest,  or  neap 
tides,  take  place  when  lines  drawn  from  the  sun  and  moon  to  the 
earth,  are  at  right  angles  to  each  other ;  that  is,  Avhen  tlie  force  of  the 
attraction  of  the  sun  acts  in  opposition  to  that  of  the  moon.  But  the 
most  perplexing  phenomenon  in  the  tides,  and  one  which  is  still  a 


GEOLOGY  OF  SCRIPTURE.  65 

ful  ag-ent  is  continually  at  work  in  producing  this  effect ;  and 
as  this  agent,  and  its  effects,  do  not  come  so  familiarly  with- 
in our  view,  its  power  is  not  so  generally  understood  or  ac- 
knowledged. This  agent  is  the  general  system  of  the  currents 
in  the  ocean. 

These  currents  have  long  been  remarked  by  voyagers  in 
every  part  of  the  sea;  and  they  have  been  found  so  powerful 
that  vessels  are  constantly  borne  out  of  their  course,  unless 
due  allowance  be  made  for  their  influence.  It  was  long  sup- 
posed that  these  rivers  in  the  ocean  were  occasioned  by  the 
action  of  the  tides :  but  modern  science  and  observation  has 
proved  this  idea  to  have  been  unfounded ;  and  has  discovered 
that  there  is  as  regular  a  circulation  in  the  great  deep  as  in 
the  veins  of  the  human  body.  These  currents  chiefly  arise 
from  the  following  causes.  In  consequence  of  the  powerful 
action  of  the  sun  in  tropical  climates,  the  loss  by  evapora- 
tion from  the  sea,  is  much  greater  than  can  be  supplied  by 
the  quantity  of  rain  which  falls  in  these  latitudes.  The 
moisture  thus  imbibed  by  the  atmosphere,  passes  into  the 
regular  circulation  of  the  air ;  and  when  carried  into  the  tem- 
perate or  polar  regions  of  the  earth,  it  becomes  condensed, 
and  falls  there  in  much  greater  quantity  than  these  regions 
lose  by  evaporation.  This  superabundant  supply  of  water 
cannot,  from  the  figure  and  motion  of  the  earth,  remain  where 
it  falls,  but  rushes  back  towards  the  equator  in  currents,  the 
directions  of  which  must  depend,  in  a  great  measure,  on  the 

stumbling-block  to  persons  slightly  acquainted  with  the  theory  of  at- 
traction, is  the  existence  of  high  water  on  the  side  furtliest  from  tlie 
moon,  at  tlie  same  time  as  on  the  side  next  the  moon.  To  maintain 
that  the  attraction  of  tlie  moon  at  the  same  time  draws  the  waters  of 
tlie  earth  towards  herself,  and  also  draws  tliem  from  the  earth  in  an 
opposite  direction,  seems,  at  first  sight,  pai-adoxical.  But  the  diffi- 
culty vanishes,  when  we  consider  the  earth,  (or  rather  the  centre  of 
the  earth,)  and  tlie  waters  on  each  side  of  it,  as  tliree  distinct  bodies, 
placed  at  different  distances  from  the  moon,  and,  consequently,  at- 
tracted with  forces  inversely  proportioned  to  the  squares  of  their  dis- 
tances. The  waters  nearest  the  moon  will  be  much  more  power- 
fully attracted  than  the  centre  of  the  earth,  and  the  centre  of 
the  earth  more  than  the  waters  furthestfrom  tlie  moon.  The  con- 
sequence of  this  must  be,  that  the  waters  nearest  the  moon  will  be 
drawn  away  from  tlie  centre  of  the  earth,  and  will,  consequently, 
rise  from  their  level;  while  the  earth  will  be  drawn  aAvay  from  tlie 
waters  opposite  the  moon,  which  will,  as  it  were,  be  left  behind,  and 
be  in  the  same  situation  as  if  raised  from  the  earth  in  a  direction  op- 
posite to  that  in  which  they  are  attracted  by  tlie  moon." 


66  GEOLOGY  OF  SCRIPTURE. 

forms  of  the  coasts  they  may  meet  with  in  their  course :  and 
as  no  strong  current  can  take  place  either  in  the  air  or  in  the 
waters,  without  a  variety  of  eddies,  or  counter  currents,  as 
we  familiarly  know,  on  a  small  scale,  by  observing  a  strong 
stream  in  any  river,  or  by  the  draughts  of  air  in  our  houses, 
such  are  abundantly  to  be  found  in  the  ocean,  and  sometimes 
on  so  large  a  scale,  and  in  such  a  direction,  as  might  appear 
in  opposition  to  the  system  above  explained,  unless  the  whole 
be  viewed  upon  an  enlarged  scale.  It  has  been  supposed  by 
some,  that  the  winds,  and  especially  the  regular  trade  winds, 
have  a  great  influence  on  the  currents  of  the  ocean,  and  may 
even  be  regarded  as  the  cause  of  this  constant  motion  in  the 
waters.  But  this  is  taking  too  superficial  a  view  of  the  subject. 
It  is  known  that  the  currents  of  the  air  affect  the  surface  of 
the  waters,  merely  by  contact  and  friction  in  the  same  manner 
as  in  the  friction  of  any  other  two  substances ;  and  however 
the  surface  of  the  ocean  may  be  agitated  by  this  contact,  and 
raised  into  waves  by  its  force,  we  cannot  suppose  it  capable 
of  acting  to  any  considerable  depth,  or  of  displacing  large 
bodies  of  water.  It  is,  indeed,  understood,  that  though  the 
swell  of  a  wave  advances  on  the  surface,  the  water  over  which 
it  moves  remains  nearly  stationary;  so  that,  although  the 
winds  may,  in  some  small  degree,  aid  or  impede  the  tides  or 
the  currents,  they  cannot  be  considered  the  cause  of  the  move- 
ment, any  more  in  the  one  case  than  in  the  other.  There 
appears  to  be  a  close  resemblance  between  this  circulation  kept 
up  in  the  waters,  and  that  known  to  exist  in  the  atmosphere. 
In  the  latter  we  have  winds  of  various  power  and  continu- 
ance, and  also  whirlwinds,  occasioned,  like  the  whirlpools  in 
fluids,  by  the  action  of  two  contrary  streams,  or  by  the  dis- 
turbance occasioned  by  an  opposing  object.  There  are  also 
such  decided  counter-currents  in  the  air,  from  the  effort  to 
preserve  a  just  balance  in  that  element,  that  it  is  a  common 
practice  with  aeronauts  to  send  up  a  small  balloon  before 
launching  their  larger  one,  in  order  to  discover  in  what  direc- 
tion the  upper  currents  of  the  wind  may  be  setting. 

The  whole  system  of  the  currents  in  the  ocean  can  proba- 
bly never  be  distinctly  defined,  on  account  of  its  great  extent, 
and  the  very  partial  observations  of  voyagers.  Besides,  there 
must  be  a  constant  though  slow  alteration  in  the  directions 
of  their  smaller  divisions,  according  as  the  opposing  objects 
are  gradually  worn  away.  But  the  general  outline  of  the 
larger  branches  may  be  traced  with  tolerable  distinctness, 


GEOLOGY  or  SCRIPTURE.  67 

and  may  be  here  e;xplained  as  they  now  exist  in  our  own 
times.  The  present  great  system  of  currents,  then,  may  be 
traced  from  the  western  coast  of  America  across  the  Pacific 
ocean ;  of  this  current  we  as  yet  know  little,  but  that  it 
exists.  But  one  branch  of  it  strikes  on  the  south  of  New 
Holland,  running  through  Bass's  Straits,  round  South  Cape; 
and  another  branch  runs  amongst  the  islands  of' the  Archipe- 
lago, on  the  north  of  New  Holland.  On  entering  the  Indian 
ocean,  and  meeting  the  south  polar  current,  it  runs  through 
the  gulf  of  Bengal,  round  cape  Comorin,  and  over  to  Africa, 
acquiring  great  velocity  in  its  passage.  From  the  straits 
of  Babelmandel,  it  keeps  always  a  south-west  direction,  till 
it  doubles  the  Cape  of  Good  Hope,  when  it  turns  to  the 
north-west,  following  the  line  of  the  coast.  On  approaching 
the  equator  it  sets  nearly  west.  When  in  the  latitude  of  three 
degrees  north  it  meets  with  another  current,  which  has  run 
southerly  along  the  west  coast  of  Africa,  with  which  it  unites, 
and  crosses  the  Atlantic,  nearly  W.  S.  W.  On  reaching  the 
Brazils,  it  diverges  at  cape  St.  Augustine  into  two  streams; 
one  going  S.  W.  parallel  with  the  coast  till  it  doubles  Cape 
Horn,  where  it  meets  the  south  polar  currents.  The  other 
part  of  this  great  Atlantic  stream  proceeds  in  a  northerly  di- 
rection through  the  gulf  of  Glandin,  along  the  shores  of  the 
United  States,  where  it  is  called  the  Gulf  Stream,  to  New- 
foundland; and  here  it  is  backed  by  the  north  polar  currents; 
takes  an  easterly  course  across  the  Atlantic,  coming  over  to  the 
coast  of  Norway  and  the  British  Isles,  and  turning  thence  to 
the  south,  through  the  bay  of  Biscay,  and  along  the  coasts 
of  Spain  and  Africa,  meets  the  great  southern  current  in  the 
latitude  of  three  degrees  north.  The  breadth  of  the  African 
branch  of  this  magnificent  ocean  river  is  supposed  to  be  from 
150  to  1000  miles.  At  the  Cape  of  Good  Hope  it  runs  at  the 
rate  of  about  two  miles  an  hour ;  at  the  equator  three  and  a 
half;  and  in  the  Gulf  Stream  four  miles  an  hour. 

It  may  easily  be  supposed  what  changes  must  be  con- 
stantly taking  place  in  the  bed  of  the  ocean,  and  on  the  shores 
of  the  dry  land,  by  the  never-ceasing  action  of  these  currents, 
the  force  of  which  is  too  powerful  to  be  more  than  slightly 
affected  by  the  action  of  the  tides  or  the  winds.  There  is, 
probably,  a  great  re-action  also  below  the  surface,  and  at 
greater  depths  than  our  limited  observations  can  penetrate.* 

*  We  may  look  for  much  interesting  and  useful  information  re- 
specting the  currents  of  tlie  ocean,  in  a  Avork  now  in  covu-se  of 


68  GEOLOGY  OF  SCRIPTURE. 

It  such  is  the  power  and  action  of  the  currents  and  the 
tides  in  the  earth,  as  it  now  is,  we  may  safely  conclude  that 
they  were  not  less  active  in  the  Antediluvian  seas,  the  beds 
of  which  we  now  inhabit ;  having  it  thus  in  our  power  to 
examine  the  various  strata  of  earthly  debris,  which,  in  the 
course  of  more  than  sixteen  centuries,  were  deposited  in  va- 
rious directions,  according  to  the  partial  changes  that  must 
be  constantly  taking  place  in  the  direction  of  the  currents,  as 
the  opposing  points  by  which  they  are  in  a  great  degree 
guided,  are  worn  away. 

Having  thus  found  one  agent  of  sufficient  power  to  remove 
vast  quantities  of  mineral  matter  from  the  land  into  the  ocean, 
and  another,  the  effect  of  which  is,  gradually  to  arrange  this 
matter  in  strata  more  or  less  horizontal,  according  to  the  form 
or  slope  of  the  primitive  bed  on  which  they  are  deposited, 
we  can  have  little  difficulty  in  accounting  for  most  of  the  phe- 
nomena now  discovered  in  the  lower  secondary  formations  of 
our  earth.  For  the  upper  secondary  formations  and  alluvial 
soils,  we  shall  find  a  full  and  sufficient  cause  when  we  come 
to  the  consideration  of  the  Mosaic  deluge. 

We  must  now  resume  the  consideration  of  the  primitive 
ocean  from  its  first  being  "  gathered  together"  until  the  Mo- 
saic deluge,  a  period  amounting  to  about  1 656  years ;  and  which 
will  be  found  fully  sufficient  to  account  for  many  of  the 
geological  phenomena  exposed  to  our  view.  For  when  we 
apply  to  the  utmost  depths  of  secondary  formations,  the  scale 
on  which  we  are  now  considering  the  whole  earth;  and  also 
when  we  think  of  the  great  extent  of  decomposition  and  re- 
formation incessantly  proceeding  in  our  own  times,  we  shall 
feel  satisfied  that  the  indefinite  periods  assumed  by  the  chaotic 
philosophy,  are  infinitely  greater  than  the  existing  phenomena 
demand  ;*  and  we  shall,  consequently,  have  a  more  confirmed 
confidence  in  the  truth  of  the  inspired  record. 

publication,  and  written  by  the  late  Major  Rennell.     It  is  under- 
stood to  apply,  more  particularly,  to  the  currents  of  the  Atlantic. 
*  See  page  42,  and  note,  page  71. 


CHAPTER  V. 

General  Nature  of  the  Formations  on  the  Earth. — Origin  and 
Progress  of  Secondary  Formations. — Causes  of  Stratification 
in  Secondary  Rocks. — Such  Deposits  become  gradually  Mine- 
ralized.— Calcareous  Formations. — Salt  Deposits. — Proof  of 
Grajiite  not  being  an  Aqueous  Deposit. — Secondary  Forma- 
tions now  in  Progress  in  the  Bed  of  the  Ocean. 

The  active  researches  of  geologists  into  the  existing-  phe- 
nomena on  the  surface  of  the  earth,  have  led  to  the  following 
conclusions  with  respect  to  mineral  bodies. 

"Primitive  Rocks 
*<  Consist  only  of  crystalline  formations  ; 
They  contain  no  organic  remains  ; 
They  are  found  below  all  other  rocks  ; 

And  they  rise  from  tlie  base,  tlirough  all  other  rocks,  forming  the 
summits  of  the  most  lofty  mountains. 

"  Transition  and  Floetz,  (or  Secondary  Rocks,) 
"Consist  partly  of  ciystalline,  partly  of  mechanical  deposits; 
They  conUiin  organic  remains  of  sea  shells; 
And  are  never  found  under  primitive  rocks. 

"Alluvial  Deposits 
"  Consist  of  mechanical  de^josits  ; 
They  result  from  the  I'uin  of  rocks  ; 
They  contain  abundance  of  shells,  together  with  the  bones  of 

quadrupeds,"  and  of  the  human  race  ; 
"  And  they  are  found  above  all  tlie  other  rocks.  "* 

*  Phillips's  Geology. 


70  GEOLOGY  OF  SCRIPTURE. 

Thus  far  the  chaotic  and  the  Mosaic  geologies  coincide ; 
the  facts  are  self-evident,  and  within  the  reach  of  every  one 
who  will  take  the  trouble  to  examine  them.  But  when  the 
causes  by  which  these  facts  have  been  produced,  come  under 
consideration,  the  two  geologies  separate ;  the  one  following 
the  path  which  history  has  marked  out,  and  which  reason 
can  comprehend,  leading  at  every  step  "towards  the  light  of 
truth ;  the  other,  under  a  variety  of  leaders,  plunges  into  the 
dark  and  devious  mazes  of  hypothesis,  rejects  the  guidance 
of  history,  and  is  led  more  and  more  into  obscurity  and  error. 
There  is  no  possible  way  of  clearing  this  labyrinth  and  of 
gaining  the  desired  end,  but  by  retracing  our  steps  and  tak- 
ing advantage  of  the  clue  which  history  affords  us.  But  in 
doing  this,  we  must  keep  constantly  in  mind  the  difRculties 
from  which  we  have  escaped  ;  and  the  impossibility  we  have 
experienced  of  tracing  primitive  effects  to  secojidary  causes. 
Truth  and  reason  acknowledge  but  one  primitive  cause;  and 
that  is,  an  Almighty,  though  to  us,  incomprehensible  Creator. 

Having  found  the  arguments  in  favour  of  secondary  causes, 
or  the  mere  laws  of  nature,  as  they  are  called,  totally  insuffi- 
cient to  account  satisfactorily  to  our  reason,  for  the  first 
formation  of  crystallized  mineral  bodies,  any  more  than  for 
the  first  formation  of  animal  or  vegetable  bodies,  we  come  to 
the  unavoidable  conclusion  that  they  were  all  the  creative 
work  of  an  Almighty  hand.  But  as  it  is  evident  that  this 
creation,  as  soon  as  completed,  was  submitted  to  certain  laws, 
by  some  of  which  a  constant  succession  of  decay  and  re-for- 
mation was  to  be  kept  up  in  the  mineral  world,  at  least  as 
far  as  regards  the  mere  surface  of  the  earth,  it  may  be  con- 
sidered quite  within  the  scope  of  our  reason  to  examine  these 
laws,  and  to  account  for  these  secondary  effects  by  secondary 
causes. 

We  find,  then,  that  it  is  one  constant  law  of  the  Creator 
that  the  action  of  the  atmosphere  shall  decompose  or  break 
up  the  mineral  bodies  exposed  to  its  influence.  We  find 
another  called  the  law  oi  gravity,  by  which  the  waters  of  the 
earth,  in  seeking  their  own  level,  are  hurried  from  the  highest 
mountains  to  the  sea;  carrying  along  with  them  abundance 
of  mineral  matter  in  the  shape  of  sand,  mud  and  gravel.  We 
find  a  third  law  by  which  the  waters  of  the  ocean  are  kept  in 
constant  agitation ;  and  the  mineral  matter  imported  by  the 
rivers,  is  arranged  in  classes,  according  to  the  weight  and 
volume  of  its  parts,  and  distributed  over  the  sea  bed  in  va- 


GEOLOGY  OF  SCRIPTURE.  71 

rioas  directions,  and  in  various  quantities,  according  to  the 
nature  of  the  currents  which  remove  it.* 

These  three  laws,  which  have  been  in  constant  action  since 
the  first  creation  of  the  seas,  the  rivers,  and  the  atmosphere, 
which  events,  history  informs  us,  took  place  about  6000  years 
ago,  are  fully  sufficient  to  account  for  a  prodigious  accumula- 
tion of  decomposed  mineral  matter  in  the  bed  of  the  ocean. f 

*  This  law  of  ai'rangement,  which  is  founded  on  the  law  of  gravit}', 
may  be  looked  upon  as  the  great  agent  in  distinct  stratification.  And 
as  this  law  could  not  be  in  force  witliout  the  lateral  movement  kept 
up  by  the  currents  of  the  ocean,  we  cannot  look  for  its  effects  in 
situations  where  such  constant  action  and  re-action  of  currents  do 
not  exist.  Thus  we  never  can  expect  to  find  the  secondary  forma- 
tions of  fresh  water  lakes,  however  extensive,  in  the  same  sti'atified 
arrangement  as  in  the  bed  of  the  sea.  Wliatever  sand,  mud,  gravel 
or  I'ock  is  lodged  in  a  lake  by  rivers,  must,  therefore,  remain 
exactly  in  the  same  irregular  mass  as  when  first  imported  and  de- 
posited ;  and,  accordingly,  Ave  never  find  the  shores  of  lakes,  or  the 
banks  of  rivers,  presenting  the  same  distinct  classification  as  is  al- 
ways found,  more  or  less,  on  die  sea  shores.  For  the  same  reason, 
M  c  may  be  assured  that  in  draining  marshes  or  lakes,  when  we  cut 
through  distinct  strata  of  sand,  marl,  gravel,  or  fine  clay,  which 
are  all  generally  found  in  strata  in  such  situations,  we  are  to  attri- 
bute such  deposits,  as  well  as  their  fossil  contents,  to  a  period  when 
tlie  action  of  the  sea  was  in  force ;  and  that  the  hollow  basin-like 
form  which  now  causes  a  marsh  or  a  lake,  must  have  been  at  least 
partially  coated  witli  marine  strata  at  the  period  of  the  deluge.  We 
must,  however,  be  g-uided  by  circumstances,  in  forming  a  judgment 
in  such  cases,  as  there  can  be  no  doubt  that  many  places  which  were 
formerly  shallow  lakes  or  marshes,  ai-e  now  nearly  dry,  from  the 
growth  of  peat,  or  the  accumulation  of  the  debris  of  land  streams  ; 
and  we  must,  consequently,  judge  of  the  natiu*e  of  the  soils,  and  of 
the  period  of  the  fossil  deposits,  according  to  their  degree  of  strati- 
fication, and  the  nature  of  the  embedding  soils. 

The  remains  of  deer  and  other  animals  often  found  in  peat  mosses, 
must,  therefore,  be  considered  antediluvian,  or,  otherwise,  according 
to  the  situation  in  which  they  oecur,  and  according  to  the  presence 
or  absence  of  land  streams,  by  the  agency  of  which  the  deposits 
might  have  been  made.  The  well  known  fossil  elks  of  Ireland,  and 
of  the  Isle  of  Man,  may  probably  be  regarded  as  truly  antediluvian  ; 
though  geologists  have  often  considered  them  as  much  more  modern. 
t  In  a  late  publication  by  Mr.  Lyell,  which  has  come  under  my 
notice  since  the  above  Avas  written,  and  Avhich  is  a  woi"k  full  of  in- 
formation of  the  most  important  kind,  with  regard  to  natui-al 
secondary  causes,  which  he  considers  sufficient  to  account  for  all 
the  appearances  on  the  surface  of  the  earth,  Me  find  a  calculation 
Avith  respect  to  the  quantity  of  mud  lodged  in  tlie  sea  by  the  Ganges, 
which  appears,  as  it  is  well  calculated  to  do,  to  shake  to  its  founda- 


72  GEOLOGY  OF  SCRIPTURE. 

Should  any  event,  then,  take  place  to  enable  us  to  examine 
that  bed  m  a  dry  state,  we  could  feel  no  surprise  if  we  should 
discover  the  original  crystallized  surface  of  the  earth,  loaded 
with  various  accumulations,  resulting-  evidently  from  such  de- 
composition of  rocks  as  the  atmosphere  every  where  occa- 
sions, as  the  rivers  every  where  become  charged  with,  and  as 
the  currents  of  the  ocean  must,  at  all  times,  be  depositing. 
As  it  is  one  part  of  the  laws  of  gravity,  that  deposits  in  fluids 
shall  fall  to  the  bottom,  in  the  same  horizontal  position  in 
which  these  fluids  themselves  are  retained  by  attraction,  we 
should  expect  to  find  these  deposits  in  this  particular  posi- 
tion ;  unless  the  irregular  form  of  that  part  of  the  primitive 
earth  on  which  they  happened  to  be  laid,  occasioned  an  ir- 
regularity also  in  the  deposited  mass.  Should  any  very  con- 
siderable elevation  or  irregularity  have  existed  on  the  primi- 
tive surface  of  the  earth,  such  as  we  now  denominate  an  Al- 

tion  the  theory  of  the  author  ;  for  it  is  obvious,  that  it  proves  too 
much  to  suit  his  idea  of  millions  of  years,  as  the  age  of  the  world. 
After  stating-  the  calculations  of  Rennell,  and  of  Major  Colebrooke, 
with  respect  to  the  waters  of  the  Ganges,  which  are  calculated  to 
contain  one  part,  in  four,  of  mud,  Mr,  Lyell  continues  :  "But,  al- 
though we  can  readily  believe  the  propoi-tion  of  sediment  in  the 
waters  of  the  Ganges  to  exceed  that  of  any  river  in  northern  lati- 
tudes, we  are  somewhat  staggered  by  the  results  to  which  we  must 
arrive,  if  we  compare  the  proportion  of  mud,  as  given  by  Rennell, 
with  his  computation  of  the  quantity  of  Avater  discharged,  which 
latter  is  probably  very  correct.  If  it  be  true  that  the  Ganges,  in  the 
flood-season,  contains  one  part,  in  four,  of  mud,  we  shall  then  be 
obliged  to  suppose  that  there  passes  down,  every  four  days,  a  quan- 
tity of  mud,  equal  in  volume  to  tlie  Avater  which  is  discharged  in 
the  course  of  twentj^-four  hours.  If  tlie  mud  be  assumed  to  be 
equal  to  one  half  the  specific  gravity  of  gi-anite,  (it  would,  however, 
be  more,)  the  weight  of  matter  daily  cain-ied  down  in  the  flood  sea- 
son, would  be  about  equal  to  74  times  the  weight  of  the  Great  Pyra- 
mid of  Egypt.  Even  if  it  could  be  proved  that  the  turbid  Avaters  of 
the  Ganges  contain  one  part  in  a  hundred  of  mud,  Avhich  is  possi- 
ble, and  Avhich  is  affirmed  to  be  the  case  in  regard  to  the  Rhine,  Ave 
should  be  brought  to  the  extraordinary  conclusion,  that  there  passes 
down,  every  day,  into  the  Bay  of  Bengal,  a  mass  more  than  equal  in 
weight  and  bulk  to  the  Great*  Pyramid. " — Principles  of  Geology^ 
vol.  i.  page  284. 

Let  the  candour  of  this  very  able  author  calculate  this  effect  over 
the  whole  eai-tb  for  2000  years,  and  then  consider  it  as  having  acted 
for  one  or  tAvo  millions  of  years  ;  and  let  him  say  Avhich  result 
bears  the  most  just  proportion  to  the  secondary  formations  actually 
found  to  load  the  primitive  surface  of  the  earth. 


GEOLOGY  OF  SCRIPTURE.  73 

pine  height,  but  at  the  bottom  of  the  primitiye  sea,  we  should 
expect  to  discover  the  various  horizontal  deposits  of  various 
changing  currents  laid  one  above  another,  towards  its  top.  If 
this  top  had  been  of  sufficient  elevation  to  be  above  the  sur- 
face of  the  waters  in  the  form  of  an  island,  we  should  not  look 
for  any  such  deposits  above  the  level  which  the  waters  had 
reached;  but,  on  the  contrary,  we  should  expect  to  find  the 
bare  primitive  rock  free  from  all  secondary  formation.* 

After  taking  this  general  view  of  the  bed  of  a  former  ocean, 
supposing  it  to  be  within  our  power  to  do  so,  we  should 
naturally  enter  upon  a  more  minute  examination  of  the  vari- 
ous mineral  masses  of  which  these  deposits  were  formed. f 
And  here  we  should  soon  find  that  the  laws  by  which  the 
world  is  governed,  are  not  confined  to  those  three,  by  the  ac- 
tion of  which  these  deposits  have  been  formed.  We  should 
have  to  consult  the  voluminous  code  of  chemical  laws,  the 
foundations  of  which,  like  those  of  all  the  other  laws  of  God, 
are  beyond  our  comprehension  ;  but  in  the  action  of  which, 
human  science  has  made  so  many  brilliant  discoveries.  We 
should  every  where  discover  effects  produced  by  these  chemi- 
cal laws,  varying  according  to  the  situation,  and  the  nature  of 
the  materials  to  be  acted  upon.  Instead  of  finding  these  ma- 
terials, when  freed  from  the  waters  in  which  they  had  been 

*  "  Of  the  natui'e  of  the  bed  of  the  ocean  we  know  but  little. 
The  portions  of  it  which  have  been  explored  by  soundings,  are 
found,  in  one  place,  to  contain  immense  collections  of  the  wreck  of 
testaceous  animals,  intermixed  with  sand  or  gravel ;  and  in  another, 
to  consist  of  soft  alluvial  mud,  several  feet  in  depth.  Donati  found 
the  bottom  of  the  Adriatic  to  be  composed  of  a  compact  bed  of  shells, 
not  less  than  a  hundred  feet  in  thickness." — Edin.  Encyclop.  Physi- 
cal Geography,  p.  518. 

It  was  likewise  discovered,  in  the  researches  of  Donati,  that,  at  a 
veiy  few  feet  below  the  surface  of  tlie  bed  of  the  Adriatic,  the  de- 
posits were  converted,  by  pressure,  and  by 'the  actions  of  the  chemi- 
cal laws  of  nature,  into  solid  marble,  and  the  shells  completely 
peti'ified. 

t  "  Various  mai'ine  substances  are  to  he  found  almost  in  every 
part  of  the  extensive  province  of  Chili,  and  even  on  the  tops  of  some 
of  its  lofty  mountains.  In  the  main  ridge  of  the  Andes,  the  internal 
structure  consists  of  primitive  rocks  of  granite  and  quartz.  The 
maritime  and  midland  mountains,  together  with  the  lateral  chains  of 
the  Andes,  are  of  secondary  formation  ;  their  sti*ata,  which  are  hori- 
zontal, and  of  unequal  thickness,  abound  with  marine  productions, 
and  contain  the  impressions  of  animal  bodies. "— ,Mb/ma'.s  J^aturaZ 
and  Civil  History  of  CMli. 
G   2 


74  GEOLOGY  OF  SCRIPTURE. 

deposited,  simply  in  the  state  of  dry  sand,  mud,  or  ^avel, 
and  equally  loose  and  friable  as  they  must  have  been  at  the 
period  of  their  deposition,  we  should  find  them  cemented  to- 
gether in  the  most  solid  and  compact  manner.  All  the  inter- 
vening spaces  between  the  angles  of  the  grosser  particles, 
filled  up  with  a  stony  matter,  and  the  whole  assuming  the 
appearance  and  qualities  of  solid  rock.* 

Where  cavities  had,  by  any  accident,  been  formed,  either  in 
the  first  deposition,  or,  as  would  be  more  probable,  in  the 
course  of  desiccation,  we  should  frequently  find  that  wonder- 
ful and  unaccountable  law  in  operation,  by  which  fluids  as- 
sume, in  drying,  a  crystalline  form.  As  the  primitive  ocean 
had,  by  the  command  of  the  Almighty,  produced,  "abundant- 
ly the  moving  creature  that  hath  life  ;"  and  as  many  of  these 
creatures  were  destined  to  become  the  permanent  inhabitants 
of  the  deep,  we  should  feel  no  surprise,  in  every  where  discover- 

*  We  are  sometimes  enabled  to  form  some  idea  of  the  operations 
in  the  great  laboratory  of  nature,  and  can  thus  trace,  in  some  re- 
markable instances,  the  action  of  tliis  petrifying  powei'.  One  of  the 
most  remarkable  of  these  instances  is  described  by  Mr.  Morier  as 
existing-  in  Persia,  not  far  from  Maragha.  A  mineral  spring  issues 
from  the  earth  in  bubbles,  and  falls  into  a  basin  of  about  15  feet  in 
diameter.  On  flowing  over  the  edges  of  this  basin,  the  water  spreads 
over  the  ground,  forming  numerous  ponds  and  plashes,  and  in  these 
it  becomes  hard,  and  produces  that  beautiful  transparent  stone,  com- 
monly called  Tabi^eez  marble.  "The  process  of  petrifaction," 
saj'S  Mr.  Morier,  "maybe  traced  from  its  first  beginning  to  its 
termination.  In  one  part,  the  water  is  clear;  in  a  second,  it  ap- 
pears thicker,  and  stagnant ;  in  a  tliird,  quite  black  ;  and,  in  the 
last  stage,  it  is  white,  like  hoar  frost.  The  petrified  ponds  look  like 
frozen  water  ;  a  stone  slightly  thrown  upon  them  breaks  the  crust, 
and  the  black  water  exudes.  But  where  the  operation  is  complete, 
a  man  may  walk  upon  the  surface  without  wetting  his  shoes.  A 
section  of  the  stony  mass  appears  like  sheets  of  rough  y)aper,  in  ac- 
cumulated layers.  Such  is  the  constant  tendency  of  this  water  to 
become  stone,  that  the  bubbles  become  hard,  as' if,  by  a  stroke  of 
magic,  tliey  had  been  arrested,  and  metamorphosed  into  marble. " 
Instances  nearly  as  remarkable,  are  seen  atthe  falls  of  Terni  in  Italy, 
at  the  famous  hot  springs  in  Iceland,  in  Derbyshire,  and  in  many 
other  places. 

"  I  saw,"  says  Saussure,  "  on  the  sea  shore,  near  the  Pharo  de 
Messina,  sands  which  were  loose  and  friable,  when  lodged  by  the 
waves  on  the  shore,  but  which,  by  means  of  the  calcareous  juice  in- 
filtrated into  them  by  the  sea,  gradually  becomes  so  liard,  as  to  be 
used  as  millstones.  This  process  takes  place  in  the  course  of  a  very 
few  years." — Comp.  Estim.  vol.  ii.  p.  45. 


GEOLOGY  OF  SCRIPTURE.  75 

ingmore  or  less  of  animal  remains,  mixed  up  with  the  mineral 
deposits  of  their  own  proper  element.  But  as  the  fish  of  the 
sea,  as  well  as  the  fowls  of  the  air,  and  the  beasts  of  the 
field,  are  g-uided  by  the  laws  of  instind  for  their  self-preser- 
vation ;  and  as  instinctive  self-preservation  would  lead  them, 
when  alive,  to  keep  upon  the  swr/ace  of  these  gradually  form- 
ing deposites,  unless  when  overpowered  or  buried  by  any 
unusual  accumulation,  we  should  seldom  expect  to  find  more 
than  the  shelly  remains  of  the  crustaceous  animals.*  Even 
these  would  be  looked  for,  but  in  small  numbers,  in  the  first 
marine  deposits;  and  they  would  afterwards  be  found  gradu- 
ally more  abundant,  as  the  bed  of  the  sea  became  more  load- 
ed with  the  remains  of  past  generations. f  We  could  have 
little  expectation  of  discovering  the  remains  of  ^i-A,  and  still 
less,  those  of  quadrii.peLls^  in  these  gradually  formed  sea  depos- 
ites; for  though  race  after  race,  of  the  finny  tribes,  must  have 
perished  from  the  very  first,  and  the  bodies  of  many  land  an- 
imals, and  even  of  human  beings,  must  have  been  conveyed 
to  the  ocean,  in  the  common  course  of  events,  before  the 
flood;  yet  that  wonderful  law  of  God,  by  which  so  just  a 
balance  is  preserved  throughout  the  animal  creation,  would 
have  prevented  almost  a  possibility  of  the  remains  of  the 
dead  being  covered  up,  or  preserved :  for  no  sooner  does  a 
fish  perish,  than  its  body  disappears  among  the  voracious 
tribes  of  the  deep  ;  and  those  of  terrestrial  animals  could 
rarely  meet  with  any  other  fiite.:^: 

*  In  the  course  of  considerable  experience  In  the  search  of  fossil 
shells  in  various  secondary  formations,  I  have  been  led  to  the  con- 
clusion that  these  fossil  remains  must,  in  by  far  tlie  greater  number 
of  cases,  have  been  embedded  after  the  deatli  of  the  fish  that  in- 
habited them.  The  chalk  formation  is  especially  remarkable  for 
the  perfect  state  of  preservation  in  wbich  it  renders  up  its  fossil 
treasures  ;  and  they  are  often  found  retaining  the  remains  of  their 
most  delicate  parts,  as  perfect  as  -wlien  first  embedded.  In  the  case 
of  the  echini,  for  example,  many  of  Avhich  are,  in  the  natural  state, 
covered  with  spines,  like  a  hedgeliog,  I  have  found,  in  a  few  of  the 
most  perfect  fossil  specimens,  just  sufficient  indication  of  a  spine, 
to  convince  me  how  complete  they  Avould  have  been,  had  they  been 
hviried  in  a  living  state.  BVit  as  they  are  almost  always,  more  or 
less,  stripped  of  their  spines,  it  appears  certain  that  they  must  have 
been  exposed  to  the  friction  of  the  waters,  in  an  empty  state,  before 
tliey  were  covered  up.  The  fractured  and  disordered  position  of 
fossils  in  general,  also  tend  to  the  saine  opinion. 

t  See  page  55,  note. 

%  Fish  are  rarely  foimd  in  a  fossil  state  in  the  lower  secondary 


76  GEOLOGY  OF  SCRIPTURE. 

On  a  closer  inspection  of  some  of  the  finer  earthy  deposits, 
having-  every  appearance  of  having  once  been  a  tenacious 
mud,  we  should  find  them  variously  loaded  with  these  crus- 
taceous  remains.  We  should  also  find,  that  the  whole  mass 
had  become  impregnated  with  a  calcai-eous  quality^  which  was 
not  to  be  found  in  any  of  the  formations  generally  considered 
primitive ;  and  which,  therefore,  must  have  been  acquired 
by  some  of  those  chemical  laws  at  all  times  in  action  in  the 
world.  We  should  find  some  difliculty  in  coming  to  any 
positive  conclusion  with  respect  to  the  original  cause  of  this 
calcareous  property ;  more  especially,  when  we  discover  a 
similar  calcareous  principle  in  the  shells  and  bones  of  both 
terrestrial  and  marine  animals.* 

The  deposits  of  salt  which  we  might  discover,  would,  in  no 
W'ay,  surprise  us,  having  had  connexion  with  waters  of  the 
same  briny  character.  But  the  question,  whether  the  saltness 
of  the  ocean  be  derived  from  the  mineral,  or  the  mineral  be  a 
chemical  deposit  from  the  luater,  would  probably  lead  us  out  of 
the  plain  beaten  track  we  had  determined  to  pursue,  and 
should,  therefore,  be  declined,  and  left  for  future  investiga- 
tion, as  not  in  any  way  affecting  the  general  question.]" 

In  the  whole  of  this  general  review  of  the  secondary  for- 
mations, however,  we  should  be  deeply  impressed  with  this 
remarkable  fact,  that  in  all  these  various  formations,  in  which 

formations  ;  but  the  fact  occasionally  occurs,  as  might  be  expected, 
as  exceptions  to  what  may  be  called  a  general  rule.  They  are, 
however,  found  in  great  abundance  in  diluvial  forrnations,  as  we 
shall  have  occasion  to  perceive,  in  considering  the  effects  of  the 
deluge. 

*  "  The  component  parts  of  bones  are  chiefly  fom* ;  namely, 
earthy  salts,  fat,  gelatine,  and  cartilage.  The  earthy  salts  are 
four  in  number,  1st.  Phosphate  of  lime,  Avhich  constitutes  by  far 
the  greater  part  of  tlie  whole.  2d.  Carbonate  of  lime.  3d. 
Phosphate  of  magnesia.  4th.  Sulphate  of  lime." — Eclin.  Encyclop. 
Chemistry,  p.  138. 

"Lime  has  been  known  from  the  remotest  ages.  It  abounds  in 
every  part  of  the  earth,  constituting  immense  ranges  of  rocks  and 
mountains.  It  may  be  obtained  by  burning  calcareous  spars,  and 
certain  marbles.  Oyster  shells,  when  bunit,  yield  it  nearly  pm-e."' — 
Ibid.  p.  45. 

t  The  saline  principle  so  generally  found  in  all  animal  produc- 
tions, would  incline  us  to  refer  all  saltness  to  the  great  laboratory  of 
nature,  and  not  to  atti'ibute  it  solely  to  marine  origin.  Witli  regard 
to  salt,  as  a  solid  mineral  body,  I  shall  have  occasion  to  make  some 
remarks  upon  it,  in  a  subsequent  chapter.     [See  chap.  8. ) 


GEOLOGY  OF  SCRIPTURE.       -  77 

the  laws  of  chemistry  had  been  observed  to  have  acted  so 
powerfully,  and  in  some  of  which  even  crystallization  ap- 
peared, in  many  cases,  to  have  taken  place,  we  should  dis- 
cover no  trace  of  such  formations  as  we  had  previously  re- 
marked in  primitive  rocks,  which  we  had  been  taught  to  believe 
were  originally  crystallized  in  an  aqueous  Jluid  of  the  very  self 
same  character. 

We  should  no  where  find  granite^  or  any  other  primitive 
rock^  amongst  the  secondary  chemical  deposits ;  and  we  should  • 
consider  this  fact  alone,  as  a  positive  confirmation  of  the  con- 
clusion we  had  before  come  to  by  a  different  process,  viz.  that 
the  primitive  creations  never  could  have  arisen  in  an  aqueous 
Jluid,  by  the  mere  laws  of  nature. 

It  is  scarcely  necessary  to  observe,  that  the  case  which  has 
been  here  put  hypothetically,  of  having  it  in  our  power  to 
make  this  actual  survey  of  the  bed  of  the  former  ocean,  has 
in  fact  occurred  ;  as  is  sufficiently  testified  by  the  numerous 
phenomena  presented  to  us,  over  nearly  the  whole  surface  of 
•the  present  dry  land. 

But  in  order  to  form  a  more  defined  idea  of  the  mode  of 
secondary  formations,  let  us,  for  a  moment,  consider  the  ac- 
tion of  these  same  laws  by  which  we  have  supposed  them  to 
have  been  formed,  as  they  may,  at  any  time,  be  observed  go- 
ing on  under  our  eyes.  Let  us  station  ourselves  on  a  part  of 
the  sea  coast,  near  the  mouth  of  any  great  river,  and  consider 
how  the  laws  of  nature  are  continually  acting.  We  must, 
however,  in  the  absence  of  extensive  primitive  coasts,  which 
are  now  scarcely  any  where  to  be  found,  content  ourselves 
with  illustrations  from  the  secondary  and  alluvial  formations 
with  which  our  present  shores  are  loaded  ;  so  that  the  second- 
ary deposits,  now  in  progress,  are  formed  from  secondary 
rocks,  instead  of  from  primitive,  as  the  antediluvian  deposits 
must  have  been. 

Let  us  station  ourselves,  for  instance,  on  that  point  of  our 
own  shores,^formed  by  the  Isle  of  Thanet,  where  we  have,  to 
the  south,  a  great  extent  of  chalky  coast,  and  to  the  north,  the 
mouth  of  our  noble  Thames.  And,  first,  let  us  observe  the 
action  of  the  atmosphere  on  the  chalky  cliffs  of  this  island. 
There  are  few  of  the  secondary  formations  more  easily  affect- 
ed than  the  chalk,  by  the  alternate  moisture  and  dryness  of 
our  climate  :  and  this  is  materially  assisted  by  the  chemical 
action  of  the  salt  from  the  spray  of  the  sea.  In  the  spring 
of  the  year,  when  the  heat  of  the  sun  becomes  powerful,  and 


78  GEOLOGY  OF  SCRIPTURE. 

evaporates  the  abundant  moisture  imbibed  by  the  chalk  dur- 
ing- the  winter,  the  whole  surface  of  the  cliff,  as  it  were,  ex- 
foliates ;  and  large  masses,  becoming  detached,  are  precipitat- 
ed on  the  sands  below,  in  a  crumbling-  heap  of  ruin.  The 
very  first  succeeding  tide  that  flows,  begins  the  work  of  trans- 
portation ;  and  the  waters  retire,  on  the  ebb  tide,  loaded  with 
the  fmest  particles  of  this  chalky  ruin.  But  thoug-h  this  in- 
satiable enemy  retires  white  with  its  booty,  and  sullies,  for  a 
considerable  distance,  the  purity  of  the  ocean,  yet,  on  every 
succeeding  flow,  it  again  advances  empty  handed  :  the  flow- 
ing waves  are  as  transparent  as  if  no  chalk  existed  on  the 
whole  coast.  A  few  weeks  or  months  of  this  never-ceasing 
action  gradually  diminishes  even  the  most  solid  portions  of 
the  chalk;  and,  at  length,  the  sands  are  as  pure  and  as  free 
from  earthy  matter,  as  if  no  fall  had  ever  taken  place.  Now, 
though  we  may  liken  this  gradual  disappearance  of  the  chalk 
to  that  of  salt  or  sugar  immersed  in  water,  there  is  this  most 
material  difference ;  that  in  the  one  case,  the  matter  is  actual- 
ly dissolved,  and  held  in  solution  as  long  as  the  moisturfe 
continues  ;  but  in  the  other,  the  indissoluble  earthy  particles 
of  the  chalk  are  carried  off  bodily  by  the  waves  ;  and  are 
only  held  in  suspension^  until,  by  their  own  weight,  they  sink 
to  the  bottom  of  the  sea,  and  are  added,  in  the  form  of  mud, 
to  beds  that  must  have  been  in  the  course  of  formation  ever 
since  that  great  revolution  which  placed  the  chalky  bottom  of 
the  antediluvian  sea  in  a  situation  to  be  thus  acted  upon  as 
the  high  coast  of  the  postdiluvian  ocean.* 

It  is  not  so  easy  to  determine  in  what  part  of  the  bed  of 

*  There  cannot  exist  a  doubt,  that,  though  England  be  now  se- 
parated from  Finance  by  a  distance  of  from  20  to  40  miles,  and  that 
distance  be  now  occupied  by  the  sea,  tbe  whole  intervening  space, 
and  a  gi*eat  extent  of  l)Oth  countries,  form  one  continuous  secondary 
formation  of  chalk,  of  wliich  the  basins  of  Paris,  London,  and  the 
Isle  of  Wight,  so  well  known  to  geologists,  form  a  part.  It  is  the 
opinion  of  some,  whose  ideas  in  geology  are  quite  unfettered  by 
history,  as  to  time,  that  the  two  countries  were  once  vuiited,and  that 
tlie  separation  has  been  effected  by  gradual  decay,  from  tlie  action 
of  the  sea  upon  a  narrow  isthmus.  But  history  will  not  l)ear  us  out 
in  this  idea  ;  for  we  know,  from  certain  landmai-ks,  ^hich  existed 
many  centuries  ago,  such  as  the  Roman  part  of  Dover  Castle,  and 
other  ancient  buildings  on  tbe  coast,  that  the  decay  of  the  clifts, 
tliougb  constant  and  gradual,  has  not  been  such,  in  the  last  2000  years, 
as  to  warrant  any  such  conclusion,  sujiposing  the  deluge  to  have  taken 
place,  as  we  have  reason  to  know  it  did,  about  4000  years  ago, 


GEOLOGY  OF  SCllIPTUKE.  79 

the  sea  this  chalky  mud  is  now  being  deposited  ;  but  there  is 
considerable  reason  to  suppose  that  it  is  not  in  the  immediate 
neighbourhood  of  the  present  shores  :  for  there,  the  currents 
seem  to  deposit  sand  in  such  immense  quantities,  as  to  render 
the  navigation  both  difficult  and  dangerous.  We  no  where 
hear  of  a  mnddy  bottom  :  every  thing  is  either  sand  or  solid 
chalk.  And  here  we  have  numerous  examples  of  the  changes 
that  are  gradually  effected  in  the  form  and  structure  of  the 
bed  of  the  ocean.  Every  old  pilot,  well  acquainted  with 
the  difficult  navigation  of  this  part  of  the  coast,  can  relate  in- 
stances, within  his  own  memory,  where  the  shifting  nature 
of  the  sand  banks  renders  the  most  watchful  attention  to  the 
landmarks  and  buoys  so  necessary.  The  form  and  extent 
of  the  fatal  Goodwin  sands  have  undergone  considerable 
changes  within  a  comparatively  short  period  of  time.  They 
now  extend  many  miles  in  length,  and  are  formed  of  so  pure 
a  sand,  that  scarcely  a  shell  is  to  be  found  upon  them,  and  no 
gravel  v/hatever.  The  ramifications  of  this  bank,  extending 
^lorthward  towards  the  mouth  of  the  Thames,  are  all  formed 
of  an  equally  pure  sand,  which  is  dry  and  hard  at  low  water.* 
Now,  as  all  this  sand  is  2i primitive  crystalline  formation.,  hav- 
ing no  mixture  of  calcareous  earths,  except,  perhaps,  particles 
6f  broken  sea  shells,  in  small  quantity,  we  must  conclude, 
that  it  is  brought  from  other  parts,  by  the  currents,  and  that 
the  lighter  and  finer  muddy  deposits,  which  are  not  found  so 
commonly  on  that  coast,  are  carried  off  and  deposited  in  some 
of  the  depths  of  the  ocean. 

Wherever  these  secondary'-  formations  may  be  in  the  act  of 
deposition,  we  could  feel  no  surprise,  if,  on  examining  them 
in  a  dry  and  hard  state,  we  should  discover,  embedded  in 
them,  tire  shells  of  such  crustaceous  animals  as  may  in- 
habit these  depths ;  and  if  we  should  even  find  the  remains 

*  It  is  traditionally  reported,  tliat  this  formidable  sand  bank,  hi 
which  tlie  wreck  of  many  a  tall  shii)  has  been  buried,  was  once  a 
cultivated  island,  and  part  of  the  property  of  tlie  Earl  of  Godwin. 

The  ancient  Roman  castle  of  Richborough,  about  a  mile  nortli  of 
Sandwich,  Avas  once  a  sea  port,  though  it  is  now  fully  two  miles 
from  the  shore.  At  that  period,  the  Isle  of  Thanet  was  really  an 
island,  being  separated  from  the  main  land  by  a  channel,  at  one  end 
of  which  was  Richborough,  and  at  the  other  Reculvers,  both  Roman 
stations,  under  the  names  of  Ritupium  and  Rigulbium,  In  the  Rom- 
ney  Marsh,  on  the  south  coast  of  Kent,  there  was  another  Roman 
port,  which  is  now  several  miles  from  the  shore. 


80  GEOLOGY  OF  SCRIPTURE. 

offish,  or  "  creeping  thing-,"  with  which  we  were  unacquaint- 
ed, we  should  not  feel  justified  in  concluding  that  they  were 
not  the  inhabitants  of  our  present  seas,  or  not  of  existing 
species,  because  our  research  had  not  yet  penetrated  their 
deep  abodes.  For  we  may  rest  assured,  that  however  minute- 
ly we  may  scan  the  dry  land,  and  its  various  productions, 
there  are  treasures  in  the  great  deep,  that  are  for  ever  placed 
far  beyond  the  eye  of  the  most  active  naturalist. 

But  let  us  now  turn  oiir  thoughts  towards  the  flowing 
Thames,  and  observe  the  continual  operations  carried  on  by 
its  unwearied  waters.  We  shall  find  them  charged  with  a 
load  of  earthy  matter,  collected,  in  their  course,  from  the  va- 
rious formations  through  which  the  river  flows.  This  burden 
must  necessarily  be  of  the  most  indiscriminate  character ; 
but  these  various  bodies  are  to  be  deposited  in  an  element 
where  each  species  of  importation  is  most  exactly  sifted,  and 
every  thing  is  arranged  according  to  its  own  particular  class. 
The  muddy ^  the  sandy ^  or  the  gravelly  bodies,  which  are  thus 
in  constant  motion  downwards,  from  the  highest  sources  of 
the  river,  are  all  at  length-  submitted  to  the  action  of  those 
laws  of  NATURE,  which  regulate  the  deep.  We  cannot  sup- 
pose that  all  this  earthy  matter  remains  in  the  form  of  banks 
and  shoals,  near  the  immediate  mouth  of  the  river  itself;  for 
if  this  were  the  case,  that  mouth  must  long  since  have  been 
completely  blocked  up.  But,  although  we  always  find  rivers 
closed,  more  or  less,  with  a  bar,  occasioned  by  the  contend- 
ing action  of  the  tide,  and  the  stream ;  yet  we  do  not  per- 
ceive that  bar  materially  to  increase ;  for  the  exact  balance 
is,  at  all  times,  kept  up  by  the  constant  removal  of  superflu- 
ous matter,  by  the  action  of  the  currents  of  the  neighbouring 
ocean.* 

*  As  an  instance  of  the  power  with  which  rivers  act,  in  filling  up 
inland  lakes,  and  in  adding  to  the  accumulations  in  the  bed  of  the 
sea,  the  following  example  may  serve  to  give  an  idea. 

The  river  Kander,  a  mountain  torrent  of  no  great  size,  rushes 
down  the  valley  of  Kanderthal,  intlie  Canton  Burne,  in  Switzerland, 
and  enters  the  lake  of  Thoun,  about  four  miles  from  the  town  so 
called.  About  a  hundred  years  ago,  this  stream  did  not  flow  into 
the  lake,  from  which  its  course  was  cut  off"  by  a  ridge  of  diluvial 
hills  of  several  himdred  feet  in  height,  stretching  along  the  south 
side  of  the  lake,  in  a  north-westerly  direction.  This  diluvial  ridge, 
extending  more  than  ten  miles  in  length,  is  entirely  composed  of 
rounded  gravel,  or  pudding  stone. 

In  consequence  of  the  mischief  done  by  the  overflowing  of  the 


GEOLOGY  OF  SCRIPTURE.  81 

If  this,  then,  is  the  system  now  in  action,  on  a  small  por- 
tion of  our  own  shores,  to  what  an  extent  must  it  be  f^oing 
on  around  our  whole  island-  And  if  we  extend  our  view, 
and  consider  the  more  gigantic  scale  of  the  rivers  on  the  con- 

Kander,  to  a  great  extent  of  valuable  meadow  land,  in  its  course  to 
join  the  Arr,  ten  miles  below  Thoun,  whicli  ^vas  its  natural  course, 
a  spirited  plan  Avas  proposed  and  adopted,  for  cutting  a  subterrane- 
ous passage  for  the  river,  through  the  above  mentioned  ridge,  at  a 
place  where  it  approached  the  lake  within  about  a  mile,  and  thus 
admitting  it  into  its  bed.  This  passage  av  as  cut  in  the  beginning  of 
the  last  century  (about  1715.)  The  descent  was  rapid,  from  the 
lake  being  considerably  lower  than  the  old  course  of  the  river.  At 
this  period,  the  depth  of  the  lake  was  in  proportion  to  the  steep  hills 
forming  its  shore.  The  Kander  had  not  long  followed  its  new  sub- 
terraneous com'se,  Avhen  it  greatly  enlarged  the  artificial  tunnel,  and 
hm*ried  great  quantities  of  gravel  into  the  lake.  The  rapidity  of  the 
torrent  in  a  few  years  eidarged  its  course,  till  at  length  the  m  hole  su- 
perstructure gave  Avay,  and  fell  in;  so  that  there  is  now  a  most  ro* 
mantic  wild  glen,  where,  a  century  ago,  there  v.as  smooth  pasture 
and  wood  lands.  The  effects  of  the  torrent  soon  became  apparent  in 
the  lake  :  an  immense  quantity  of  gravel,  and  every  species  of  rock, 
was  carried  in  by  tbe  current,  and  lodged  in  its  bed.  In  1829,  when 
I  lived  in  that  neighbourhood,  the  bed  formed  of  this  debris,  was  of 
not  less  extent  than  300  acres  ;  the  greater  part  was  covered  with 
thick  wood  5  and  this  secondary  foi'mation  is  every  year  increasing 
in  the  same  proportion  ;  so  that,  as  the  lake  is  not  tliere  of  great 
breadth,  there  is  every  prospect  of  a  rapid  and  most  material 
change  taking  place  in  its  form.  I  have  soiuidcd  the  lake  at  tlie 
present  moutli  of  the  Kander,  and,  as  I  found  no  bottom  with  a  line 
of  about  a  hundred  feet,  ws  are  certain  that  this  mountain  stream 
has,  in  little  more  than  one  century,  produced  a  secondary  bed  of 
mixed  materials,  of  fully  three  hiuidrcd  acres,  and  at  least  one 
hundred  feet  in  depth. 

One  circmustance,  however,  is  worthy  of  remark,  with  respect 
to  such  secondaiy  formations  in  fresh  water  lakes  ;  and  that  is,  that 
in  consequence  of  the  absence  of  tides  and  currents,  and  that  con- 
stant lateral  movement  kept  up  in  the  bed  of  the  sea,  we  never  dis- 
cover in  them  that  stratified  regularity  so  remarkable  within  the  ac- 
tion of  the  tide.  The  mixture  of  mineral  bodies  carried  into  an  in- 
land lake,  remains,  therefore,  exactly  as  deposited  at  the  first,  and 
this  mvist  always  be  in  great  confusion.  The  difference  of  effect, 
may,  perhaps,  be  safely  taken  as  a  guide,  in  judging  of  what  some 
geologists  have  called  "salt  and  fresh  water  formations  ;  and  if  this 
idea  be  correct,  we  have  an  additional  evidence  against  the  exti-aor- 
dinary  theories  of  Cuvicr,  Avho  sup^josed  the  well  defined  strata  of  the 
Paris  basin  to  have  been  occasioned  by  the  alternate  occupation  of 
that  basin  by  salt  and  fresh  water.  The  rounded  pebbles  and  sand, 
found  in  lakes,  are  never  formed  in  the  lakes  themst-lves,  us  they 


82  GEOLOGY  OF  SCRIPTURE. 

tinents,  and  the  more  direct  influence  of  the  great  currents  upon 
their  vast  importations,  we  shall  find  a  cause  fully  sufficient 
for  the  formation  of  secondary  deposits  of  great  depth  and 
variety,  in  the  course  of  a  comparatively  short  space  of  time. 

are  in  the  bosora  of  the  sea,  but  are  carried  into  them  by  the  rivers 
nearly  in  the  shape  in  which  we  find  tliem. 

It  may,  therefore,  be  safely  assumed,  that  the  regular  strata  of 
sand,  or  gravel,  or  of  fine  clay,  found  in  mosses,  and  shallow  lakes, 
if  quite^istinct  from  other  strata,  must  have  been  formed  at  the 
period  of  the  deluge,  under  the  influence  and  by  the  agency  of  the 
acjtion  of  the  sea. 


CHAPTER  VI. 

The  Deluge, —  Traditional  Evidence  of  that  Event. — Erroneous 
Ideas  commonly  entertained  respecting  it. — Distinctness  of 
Scripture  on  the  Subject. — Evidence  from  Scripture. — Evi- 
dence from  the  Ancient^  though  .ipocryphal^  Book  of  Enoch. — 
Theories  of  Philosophy  on  the  Subject, — The  most  probable 
Cause  of  that  Destructive  Event. 

In  the  former  part  of  this  work,  and  in  taking  a  general 
view  of  the  phenomena  presented  to  our  observation  on  the  sur- 
face of  our  earth,  a  confident  hope  was  held  out,  that  we 
should  be  able  fully  to  account  for  all  those  phenomena,  by 
considering,  with  a  candid  and  unprejudiced  judgment,  the 
three  great  events  recorded  in  history,  viz.  1st,  the  creation  of 
the  world  ;  2d,  the  formation  of  a  bed  for  the  gathering  to- 
gether of  the  waters,  together  with  the  action  of  the  laws  oi na- 
ture within  that  bed,  for  upwards  of  sixteen  centuries  ;  and  last- 
ly, the  deluge,  as  described  by  Moses  in  the  book  of  Genesis. 
We  have  already,  at  some  length,  considered  the  two  first  of 
these  great  events;  and  in  the  last  of  the  two,  we  have  found 
an  unquestionable  source  of  very  extensive  secondary  forma- 
tion, and  sufficient  to  account  for  a  large  proportion  of  all 
those,  actually  existing,  on  the  primitive  surface  of  the  earth. 
We  have  thus  satisfactorily  explained  the  formation  of  the 
transition  rocks  containing  few  or  no  fossil  remains ;  and  also 
accounted  for  the  early  sand  stone,  and  calcareous  formations, 
together  with  the  abundance  of  fossil  sea  shells  found  in  the 
latter. 

We  now,  therefore,  come  to  the  consideration  of  that  great 
event  by  which  so  complete  a  revolution  has  occurred  upon  the 
earth,  and  by  means  of  which  alone  we  are  now  enabled  to 


84  GEOLOGY  OF  SCRIPTURE. 

trace  out  a  part  of  the  operations  of  those  laws,  to  which  the 
\vorld  has  been  submitted  by  its  Creator.  For  had  we  now 
been  placed  in  the  situation  of  the  antedihivian  world,  as  in- 
habitants of  a  primitive  surface,  we  could  have  had  none  of 
that  information  which  we  now  derive  from  the  inspection  of 
the  secondary  formations  on  which  we  dwell. 

"  According  to  the  most  approved  systems  of  chronology, 
this  remarkable  event  happened  in  the  year  1656,  after  the  cre- 
ation, or  about  2348  years  before  the  Christian  sera. — Of  so 
general  a  calamity,  from  which  only  a  single  family  of  all  then 
living  on  the  earth  was  preserved,  we  might  naturally  ex- 
pect to  find  some  memorials  in  the  traditionary  records  of  Pa- 
gan history,  as  well  as  in  the  sacred  volume.  Its  magnitude 
and  singularity  could  scarcely  fail  to  make  an  indelible  im- 
pression on  the  minds  of  the  survivors,  which  would  be  com- 
municated from  them  to  their  children,  and  would  not  be  ea- 
sily effaced  from  the  traditions  even  of  their  latest  posterity. 
A  deficiency  in  such  traces  of  this  awful  event,  though  it 
might  not  entirely  invalidate  our  belief  of  its  reality,  would 
certainly  tend  considerably  to  weaken  its  claim  to  credibility  ; 
it  being  scarcely  probable  that  the  knowledge  of  it  should  be 
utterly  lost  to  the  rest  of  the  world,  and  confined  to  the  doc- 
uments of  the  Jewish  nation  alone. 

"  What  we  might  reasonably  expect,  has  accordingly  been 
actually  and  fully  realized.  The  evidence  which  has  been 
brought  from  almost  every  qviarter  of  the  world,  to  bear  upon 
the  reality  of  this  event,  is  of  the  most  conclusive  and  irre- 
sistible kind ;  and  every  investigation  which  has  been  made 
concerning  heathen  rites  and  traditions,  has  constantly  added 
to  its  force,  no  less  than  to  its  extent." — Edin.  Ency.  Deluge. 

Without  entering  at  great  length  into  the  evidence  on  this 
subject,  v/hich  has  been  brought  from  the  most  distant  heathen 
lands,  it  may  perhaps  be  sufficient,  here,  to  state  generally, 
that  allusion  is  made,  more  or  less  directly,  to  the  flood  of 
Noah,  and  to  Noah  himself,  under  various  names,  by  the  an- 
cient Greek,  Latin,  Egyptian,  Oriental,  and  Chinese  authors. 
Lucian,  a  Greek  author,  and  an  avowed  scoffer  at  all  religions, 
gives  a  history  of  the  deluge,  and  of  Noah  under  the  name  of 
BeacaUon,  so  minute  and  circumstantial,  that  it  must  certain- 
ly have  been  taken  from  the  ancient  tradition  of  the  same 
event  which  is  described  by  Moses.  The  accounts  of  the 
flood  of  Deucalion  of  the  ancient  heathens,  bear  so  strong  a 
resemblance  to  the  Mosaic  narrative  in  some  parts,  that  no 


GEOLOGY  OP  SCRIPTURE.  85 

one  can.  doubt  their  being"  founded  on  traditions  of  the  flood  of 
Noah.  Deucalion,  the  son  of  Prometheus,  reigned  over  part 
of  Thessaly.  The  impiety  in  the  world  had  irritated  Jupiter, 
who  resolved  to  destroy  mankind  ;  and  immediately  the  earth 
exhibited  a  boundless  scene  of  waters.  The  hig-hest  moun- 
.tains  were  climbed  by  the  terrified  inhabitants  of  the  earth; 
but  these  seeming  places  of  security  were  soon  overtopped 
by  the  rising  waters,  and  no  hope  was  left  of  escape  from  the 
universal  calamity.  Prometheus  advised  his  son  to  make 
himself  a  ship;  and  by  this  means  he  saved  himself  and  his  wife 
Pyrrha. — As  to  the  account  of  the  flood  given  by  Ovid,  it  ap- 
pears nearly  certain,  from  the  order  in  which  he  describes  the 
creation,  and  from  the  facts  connected  with  the  deluge,  as 
described  by  him,  that  he  was  acquainted  with  the  sacred 
volume.  The  Septuagint  translation  had,  at  that  period,  been 
known  for  more  than  two  centuries ;  and  being  written  in  a  lan- 
guage with  which  all  well-educated  Romans  were  perfectl);  con- 
versant, it  is  more  than  probable  that  the  ideas  of  the  heath- 
en poet  were  directly  derived  from  this  source. — The  accounts 
given  by  Plutarch,  Plato,  and  Diodorus  Siculus,  show 
that  the  Egyptians  believed  in  a  universal  deluge,  and  allude 
to  Noah  under  the  title  of  Osiris,  but  in  the  obscure  and  con- 
fused manner  to  be  expected  in  their  heathen  traditions. 

Sir  William  Jones,  in  his  valuable  researches  into  the 
works  and  traditions  of  the  Hindoos,  gives  us  the  substance 
of  their  accounts  of  the  deluge,  which,  though  also  full  of  the 
wild  superstitions  of  the  east,  bear  the  strongest  marks  of 
the  same  origin.  But  the  most  extraordinary  traditional  evi- 
dence of  this  event,  comes  from  quarters  where  it  could  be 
least  expected,  and  is  consequently  of  the  greater  value,  as  it 
could  not  have  been  handed  down  by  any  other  means  than 
oral  tradition,  from  one  generation  to  another.  Some  of  the 
inhabitants  of  Otaheite,  on  being  asked  by  one  of  our  cir- 
cumnavigators concerning  their  origin,  replied  that  their  su- 
preme God,  having,  a  long  time  ago,  been  angry,  dragged 
the  earth  through  the  sea,  when  their  island  was  broken  off,  and 
preserved.  In  the  island  of  Cuba  they  relate,  that  an  old 
man,  knowing  that  the  deluge  was  approaching,  built  a  ship, 
and  Avent  into  it,  with  a  great  many  animals ;  that  he  sent  out 
from  the  ship  a  crow,  which  did  not  immediately  come  back, 
staying  to  feed  on  the  carcasses  of  dead,  animals,  but  afterwards 
returned  with  a  green  branch  in  his  beak.  From  Peru,  Bra- 
zil, and  Mexico,  the  traditions  of  the  duluge  are  very  dis» 
H  2 


86  GEOLOGY  OF  SCRIPTURE. 

tiiictly  marked  with  traces  of  the  original  from  whence  they 
must  all  have  come ;  and  even  among  the  Iroquois  Indians  of 
America,  it  is  believed  that  a  great  lake  overflowed  its  banks, 
and  in  a  short  time  covered  the  whole  earth,  in  consequence 
of  the  dogs  of  one  of  their  spirits  being  lost  in  it,  while  hunting. 

It  has  frequently  been  asked  by  those  who  are  incredulous 
on  mau}^  points  of  Scripture  history,  how  it  happened  in  an- 
cient times,  when  navigation  was  little  known,  that  the  most 
distant  islands,  in  the  midst  of  the  ocean,  and  the  entire  con- 
tinent of  America,  so  recently  discovered  by  Europeans,  be; 
came  inhabited,  if  it  were  true  that  all  men  perished  except  one 
family,  wiio  were  landed  in  Asia.  It  is  difficult  to  reason 
with  those  who  are  sceptical  on  scriptural  subjects,  because 
such  persons  are  too  often  unsettled  in  their  belief  of  the 
omn'potence  of  a  Creator.  To  such,  therefore,  itw^ere  almost 
useless  to  observe,  that  a  being  who  could  cause  a  deluge, 
and  re-arrange  a  dry  land,  in  the  diversified,  and  as  it  were,  ac- 
cidenlal  forms  we  now  find  it,  could,  in  ways  apparently  as 
accidental,  spread  abroad  the  human  beings  which  were  to 
people  it.  But  to  such  persons,  perhaps,  the  remarkable  fact 
of  the  universal  tradition  of  tlie  deluge,  from  which  only  a 
few  persons  were  saved,  is  more  convincing  than  the  most 
conclusive  abstract  reasoning  :  and  the  more  especially  when 
these  traditions  are  found  to  exist  even  amongst  those  very 
isolated  nations,  the  descent  of  which,  from  Noah,  appeared 
so  problematical.  If  we  add  to  this  tradition,  the  strong  coin- 
cidence in  the  languages  of  all  ?i»tions,  Vvhich  we  shall  have 
occasion  to  remark  upon  in  a  subsequent  chapter,  the  mind 
of  that  man  must  be  of  a  singular  character,  which  can  retain 
a  doubt  of  the  truth  of  the  inspired  history  on  the  subject  of 
the  deluge.  There  are,  however,  so  many  instances  which 
may  be  produced,  from  the  voyages  of  navigators,  of  sava- 
ges in  their  canoes  being  drifted  out  to  sea,  and  carried  by 
winds  or  currents  to  great  distances,  that  no  reasonable  ob- 
jection can  be  raised  to  the  spread  of  population,  even  in  this 
accidental  manner.  Mr.  Mariner,  and  Captain  Dillon,  in 
their  accounts  of  the  South  Sea  Islands,  furnish  us  with  ma- 
ny instances  of  such  accidents. 

"When  we  thus  meet  with  some  traditions  of  a  deluge  in 
almost  every  country,  though  the  persons  saved  from  it  are 
said,  in  those  various  accounts,  to  have  resided  in  districts 
widely  separated  from  each  other,  we  are  constrained  to  admit, 
that  so  oeneral  a  concurrence  of  belief  could  never  have  ori- 


GEOLOGY  OF  SCRIPTURE.  87 

ginated  merely  by  accident.  While  the  mind  is  in  this  situa- 
tion, Scripture  comes  forward;  and  presenting-  a  narrative  more 
simple,  better  concocted,  and  bearing  an  infinitely  greater  re- 
semblance to  authentic  history  than  any  of  these  mythological 
accounts,  which  occur  in  the  traditions  of  Paganism,  it  im- 
mediately flashes  a  conviction  on  the  mind,  that  this  must  be 
the  time  history  of  those  remarkable  facts,  which  other  nations 
have  handed  down  to  us  only  through  the  medium  of  alle- 
gory and  fable.  By  the  evidence  adduced  from  so  many 
quarters,  the  moral  certainty  of  the  Mosaic  history  of  the 
flood  appears  to  be  established  on  a  basis  sufficiently  firm  to 
bid  defiance  to  the  cavils  of  scepticism.  Let  the  ingenuity  of 
unbelief  first  account  satisfactorily  for  this  universal  agree- 
ment of  the  Pagan  world,  and  she  may  then,  with  a  greater 
degree  of  plausibility,  impeach  the  truth  of  the  Scripture 
narrative  of  the  deluge." — Edin.  Encyclop.  Deluge. 

The  moral  certainty  we  thus  attain  of  the  Mosaic  deluge  it- 
self, may  be,  with  equal  force,  extended  to  the  preservation 
of  Noah,  and  those  with  him  in  the  ark,  as  the  only  living 
beings  preserved  from  this,  otherwise  universal,  destruction; 
and  thus,  from  every  hand,  maybe  drawn  additional  eviden- 
ces to  confirm  our  confidence  in  the  unerring  truth  of  the 
inspired  writings. 

The  Mosaic  narrative  of  the  deluge  is  as  full  and  circum- 
stantial as  we  could  almost  desire  ;  but,  like  many  other  most 
interesting  points  in  Scripture,  its  very  simplicity  occasions 
our  not  giving  it  that  attention  which  it  so  well  merits  ;  and 
there  is,  perhaps,  no  subject  on  which  the  general  ideas  of 
mankind  are  so  erroneous. 

The  most  common  notion  entertained  of  this  catastrophe, 
is,  that  by  some  means,  incomprehensible  to  us,  the  sea  rose 
upon  the  dry  land  to  the  height  of  the  highest  mountains  ;  and 
after  destroying  every  living  thing,  excepting  those  whom  it 
pleased  God  to  spare,  the  waters  gradually  retired  to  their 
hidden  retreats,  leaving  the  same  dry  land  that  had  before 
been  inhabited,  though  variously  changed,  in  its  actual  sur- 
face, by  the  wreck  and  ruin  with  which  it  remained  charged. 

It  would  be  difficult  to  say  from  what  source  this  errone- 
ous idea  of  the  deluge  has  first  arisen ;  the  mode  by  which 
this  fatal  event  was  brought  about  by  the  councils  of  the  Al- 
mighty, has  not  indeed  been  given  us  by  the  inspired  historian  ; 
but  the  clearness  of  the  recital,  together  with  the  effects, 
which  we  now  every  where  find  to  corroborate  it,  can  leave 


88  GEOLOGY  OF  SCRIPTURE. 

no  doubt  in  an  unprejudiced  mind,  that  the  above  mentioned 
common  opinion  is  altog-ether  false,  and  has  given  rise  to 
many  of  the  equally  false  doctrines  and  theories  of  the  cha- 
otic geology. 

In  the  Mosaic  record  we  are  told,  "And  God  said  unto 
Noah,  the  end  of  all  flesh  is  come  before  me ;  for  the  earth  is 
filled  with  violence  through  them  (mankind),  and  behold,  I 
will  destroy  them,  together  with  the  earth."* 

Here  we  have  it  distinctly  announced  by  the  voice  of  the 
Almighty,  that  he  was  not  only  to  destroy  mankind  from  off 
the  earth,  which  would  have  implied  the  earth  remaining  as 
at  first,  to  become  the  habitation  of  a  postdiluvian  race :  but 
they  were  to  be  destroyed  together  with  the  earth  on 
which  they  dwelt.  It  is  also  afterwards  declared  by  the  Al- 
mighty, in  establishing  a  covenant  with  mankind:  "  And  I 
will  establish  my  covenant  with  you,  neither  shall  all  flesh 
be  cut  off  any  more  by  the  waters  of  a  flood  ;  neither  shall 
there  any  more  be  ajloodto  destrov  the  earth. "j-  The  lat- 
ter part  of  this  sentence  would  have  been  altogether  unneces- 
sary, were  we  not  given  to  understand  by  it,  that  the  earth,  or 
dry  land,  of  the  antediluvian  world,  had  then  been  destroyed, 
as  well  as  its  wicked  inhabitants. 

A  very  close  critical  inquiry  has  been  instituted  by  Mr. 
Granville  Penn,  into  the  various  translations  of  the  original 
text  on  this  part  of  Scripture ;  and  he  proves,  beyond  dispute, 
that  the  original,  in  these  passages,  has  never  had  any  other 
interpretation,  or  translation,  than  that  adopted  in  our  English 
version ;  implying  the  destruction  of  the  earth,  as  well  as  "  of 
all  flesh  that  moved  upon  it."  This  estimable  writer  has  not 
confined  his  scriptural  inquiries  to  the  Mosaic  history  alone ; 
but  has  most  ably  drawn  from  other  inspired  sources,  what 
were  the  received  opinions  respecting  the  deluge,  throughout 
the  whole  period  of  Jewish  history,  down  to  the  times  of  the 
apostles.  He  brings  forward  that  very  remarkable  passage, 
from  the  2d  Epistle  of  St.  Peter,  3d  chapter,  6  and  7  verses, 
*'  whereby  the  luwld,  that  then  was,  being  overflowed  with 
water,  perished  ;  but  the  heaven,  and  the  earth,  which  are 
NOW,  by  the  same  word  (of  God)  are  kept  in  store,  reserved  for 
fire,  against  the  day  of  judgment,  and  perdition  of  ungodly 
men.":(:  Mr.  Penn  also  quotes  a  passage  from   the  Book  of 

*  Genesis,  vi.  13.  f  Ibid,  ix.  11. 

4  This  passage,  from  die  inspired  apostle,  might,  pei-haps,  be 


GEOLOGY  OF  SCRIPTURE.  89 

Job,  ill  which  the  friend  of  Job,  reasoning  with  him,  says, 
"  Hast  though  remarked  the  old  way  which  wicked  men  have 
trodden  ;  who  were  cut  down  out  of  time  ;  whose  foundation 
was  ovcrjiowed  with  a  flood  ;'''^  wliich  passage  the  Greek  inter- 
preters render  yet  more  decidedly,  "  tJieir  foundations  are  he- 
come  an  overflowing  floods''''  and  Michaelis  interprets  it,  "  d 
flood  OBLITERATED  their  foundations. '*'' 

In  the  very  curious  and  interesting  work,  called  the  book 
of  Enoch,  referred  to  by  St.  Jude,  v.  14,  which  had  long 
been  looked  upon  as  lost,  but  which  was  at  length  discover- 
ed in  the  Ethiopic  language  by  Bruce,  in  Abyssinia,  who 
brought  home  three  manuscript  copies  of  it,  one  of  which 
was  presented  to  the  Royal  Library  at  Paris,  a  second,  to  the 
Bodleian  Library  at  Oxford,  and  the  third,  retained  by  him- 
self; we  find  a  very  remarkable  corroborative  testimony  to 
the  above  view  of  the  subject  of  the  deluge.  In  quoting,  from 
this  apocryphal  book,  it  is  not  necessary,  in  this  place,  to  en- 
ter into  the  question  of  its  actually  being,  what  its  title  pro- 
fesses it  to  be,  a  prophetic  work  of  the  antediluvian  Enoch. 
This  point  has  been  clearly  settled  by  Dr.  Laurence,  to  whom 
we  are  indebted  for  an  English  translation  of  the  copy  in  the 

extended  witli  much  effect ;  for  he  seems,  in  this  part  of  his  general 
epistle  to  the  new  Christian  chm'ch,  prophetically  to  describe  some 
of  the  opinions  now  held  by  modern  philosophy. 

"This  second  Epistle,  beloved,  I  now  wi'ite  unto  you;  in  both 
which  (Epistles)  I  stir  up  your  pure  minds  by  way  of  remembrance  : 

"That  ye  may  be  mindful  of  the  -words  which  were  spoken  be- 
fore by  the  holy  prophets,  and  of  the  commandment  of  us,  the 
apostles  of  the  Lord  and  Saviour  :  knowing  this  first,  that  there  shall 
come,  in  the  last  days,  scoffers,  walking  after  their  own  lusts  : 

"  And  saying,  where  is  the  promise  of  his  coming  ?  For  since 
the  fathers  fell  asleep,  all  things  continue  as  they  were  from  tlie  be- 
ginning of  the  creation.  For  this  they  willingly  are  ignorant  of,  that, 
by  the  w  ord  of  God,  the  heavens  were  of  old,  and  the  earth  stand- 
ing out  of  the  waters,  and  in  the  waters  : 

"  Whereby"  (viz.  by  the  word  of  God,)"  the  ivorld  tlxat  then  was, 
being  overflowed  Avith  waters,  perished. 

"But  the  heavens,  and  the  earth,  which  notv  are,  by  the  same 
word  (of  God)  are  kept  in  store,  reserved  unto  fire,  against  the  day 
of  judgment,  and  perdition  of  ungodly  men. 

"  But,  beloved,  be  not  ignorant  of  this  one  thing,  that  one  day  is, 
with  the  Lord,  as  a  thousand  years,  and  a  thousand  years  as  one 
day."— Second  Epistle  of  Peter,  iii.  1,  &c.         ♦ 

This  short  passage  contains  lessons  in  philosophy,  as  well  as  in 
morality,  which  we  should  do  well  most  seriously  to  consider. 


90  GEOLOGY  OF  SCRIPTURE. 

Bodleiaii  Library.  But,  althouorh,  in  the  opinion  of  the 
learned  translator,  this  original  Hebrew,  or  Chaldee  work, 
was  composed  subsequent  to  the  Babylonish  captivity,  it 
must  be  admitted  to  be  a  very  interesting  and  curious  piece  of 
antiquity,  though  not  worthy  of  a  place  among  the  canonical 
books  of  Scripture. 

The  passage  I  am  about  to  quote,  however,  will  serve  to 
show  the  prevailing  opinion  on  the  subject  of  the  deluge  in 
the  times  of  the  author  of  it,  and  is  quite  consistent  with 
the  passage  in  St.  Peter's  Epistle,  and  with  the  above  passage 
in  the  book  of  Job. 

In  the  82d  chapter  of  the  book  of  Enoch,  and  the  5th 
verse,  we  find  the  writer  prophetically  describing  the  destruc- 
tion of  the  "earth,  that  then  was,"  in  the  following  manner: 

"  And  falling  to  the  earth,  I  saw  likewise  the  earth  absorbed 
BY  A  GREAT  ABYSS,  and  mountains  suspended  over  mountains, 
hills  were  sinking  upon  hills,  lofty  trees  were  gliding  off  from 
their  trunks,  and  were  in  the  act  of  being  projected,  and  of 

SINKING  INTO  THE  ABYSS. 

"  Being  alarmed  at  these  things,  my  voice  faltered.  I  cried 
and  said,  the  earth  is  destroyed  !  Then,  my  grandfather, 
Malalel,  raised  me  up,  and  said  to  me.  Why  dost  thou  thus 
cry  out,  my  son  1     And  wherefore  dost  thou  thus  lament? 

"  I  related  to  him  the  whole  vision  which  I  had  seen.  He 
said  to  me,  eonjirmed  is  that  ivhich  thou  has  seen,  my  son : 

"  And  potent  the  vision  of  thy  dream  respecting  every  se- 
cret sin  of  the  earth.  Its  substance  shall  sink  into  the 
ABYSS,  and  a  great  destruction  take  place. 

"  Now,  my  son,  rise  up  ;  and  beseech  the  Lord  of  Glory, 
(for  thou  are  faithful,)  that  a  remnant  may  be  left  upon  the 
earth,  and  that  he  would  not  wholly  destroy  it.  My  son,  all 
this  calamity  upon  earth  comes  down  from  heaven,  upon 
earth  shall  there  be  a  great  destruction.'''' 

In  another  part  of  the  book,  purporting  to  be  Noah''s  vision 
of  the  deluge,  we  find  the  following,  to  the  same  effect:  "On 
account  of  their  impiety  have  their  innumerable  judgments 
been  consummated  before  me.  Respecting  the  moons  have 
they  inquired,  and  they  have  known  that  the  earth  will 
perish,  with  those  who  dwell  upon  it,  and  that  to  these  there 
will  be  no  place  of  refuge  for  ever." — Chap.  Ixiv,  v.  9. 

These  passages,  from  such  authorities,  decidedly  show, 
that  the  destruction  of  "  the  earth  that  then  was,"  formed  a 
part  of  the  effects  of  that  awful  judgment ;  and  the  phenomena 
presented  to  our  view  over  the  whole  "  earth  that  now  is," 


GEOLOGY  OP  SCRIPTURE.  91 

establish  the  truth  of  the  historical  record  in  a  manner  the 
most  conclusive.  We  have  thus  g-iven  us  most  important 
data  on  which  to  form  a  judgment  of  the  mode  by  which  this 
great  event  was  brought  about;  but,  as  the  mere  lav)s  of 
nature  will  be  found  utterly  incompetent  to  it ;  and  as  the 
deluge  was  evidently  an  operation  as  completely  jore/erna/M- 
ral^  as  either  the  creation  itself,  or  the  gathering  together  of 
the  waters  of  the  ocean,  we  must  come  to  the  same  conclu- 
sion with  regard  to  it  which  we  have  already  done  with 
regard  to  these  events,  viz.  that  it  was  in  the  power  of  God 
alone  to  bring  it  about. 

Many  disputes  have  arisen,  and  theories  been  formed, 
among  philosophers,  respecting  the  mode  by  which  a  deluge 
might  have  been  brought  about  by  natural  causes ;  but,  like 
the  theories  of  first  formations,  they  lead  the  mind,  at  every 
step,  into  obscurity  and  contradiction.  Some  have  supposed 
the  earth  to  he  hollow,  and  to  contain  water,  which,  issuing 
out  by  some  incomprehensible  means,  deluged  the  earth,  and 
again  retired  to  its  hidden  abode.  Others  have  supposed 
that  by  a  great  earthquake,  a  heaving  up  of  the  superincum- 
bent mass  of  one  portion  of  the  earth  might  have  raised  the 
waters  of  the  ocean,  so  as  to  form  one  vast  wave  on  the  sur- 
face, which  swept  over  the  remaining  parts  of  the  earth.  In 
supporting"  this  theory  it  is  truly  stated,  that  during  partial 
earthquakes,  an  agitation  of  the  sea,  somewhat  similar,  takes 
place,  the  effects  of  which  have  often  been  most  destructive 
in  low  countries.  But  this  theory  implies  one  sweeping"  con- 
vulsion which  could  have  lasted  but  a  short  time,  and  been 
but  partial  in  its  effects  ; -whereas,  both  history,  supported  by 
the  traditions  of  the  most  obscure  nations,  and  physical  facts, 
tend  to  convince  us  that  the  deluge  must  have  lasted  some 
considerable  time,  and  been  universal  in  its  destructive  effects. 

As  to  the  theory  of  the  cavous  nature  of  the  globe,  in  order 
to  contain  water  for  the  purpose  of  one  particular  deluge  of  a 
few  months  duration,  we  have,  amongst  other  powerful  ob- 
jections, this  especial  one ;  that  such  an  arrangement  would 
be  in  contradiction  to  all  the  general  laws  of  the  Creator,  in 
the  study  of  which  we  perceive  an  economy  of  means,  if  I 
may  use  the  expression,  which  is  most  remarkable.  The 
means  employed  for  any  end  are  never  greater  than  are  abso- 
lutely necessary  to  attain  that  end ;  and  thence  the  just  balance 
which  we  so  much  admire  throughout  the  creation.  When 
the  mandate  was  issued,  on  the  third  day  of  the  creation, 
"  Let  the  waters  be  gathered  together  unto  one  place,  and 


02  GEOLOGY  OF  SCRIPTURE. 

let  the  dry  land  appear,"  which  "gathering  together  of  the 
waters  God  called  sm,"  we  have  not  a  vestige  of  gronnd 
for  supposing  that  there  was  any  superabundance  in  the  primi- 
iive  creation  of  water,-  nor  that  any  portion  of  it  was,  as  it 
were,  locked  up  from  common  use,  and  reserved  for  one 
especial  occasion.  Besides  this  objection  of  the  reason,  we 
have  also  one  fact:  for  when  we  come  to  measure  the  depths 
of  the  sea,  and  the  quantity  of  water  existing  on  our  whole 
planet,  by  the  great  and  only  true  scale  before  mentioned  ;* 
and  when  we  find  its  medium  depths,  all  over  the  earth,  not 
to  exceed,  comparatively,  a  thin  coat  of  varnish  on  a  common 
artificial  globe ;  we  shall  at  once  perceive  how  utterly  un- 
necessary it  would  be  to  demand  so  great  a  quantity  of  water 
as  a  hollow  earth  would  contain,  ^r  the  sole  purpose  of  ef- 
fecting so  diminutive  an  end.|  No.  The  ends  of  the  Al- 
mighty are  brought  about  by  much  more  simple  means ;  and 
when  we  are  informed  by  the  inspired  record,  that  not  only 
the  inhabitants  of  the  first  "  dry  land,"  but  also  that  "  dry* 
land"  itself  was  to  be  destroyed,  we  can,  without  any  strain 
upon  our  reason,  and  in  perfect  accordance  with  surrounding 
physical  facts,  imagine  the  same  great  Being  by  whose  power 
the  waters  were  at  first  gathered  together,  issuing  his  second 
mandate  for  the  execution  of  this  terrible  decree,  and  saying, 
"  Let  the  level  of  the  dry  land  be  lowered,  and  let  the  founda- 
tions of  the  great  deep  be  broken  up  :  and  it  was  so." 

But  if  we  insist  on  discovering  or  inventing  a  mode  by  which 
the  Almighty  caused  this  destructive  interchange  of  sea  and 
land  to  take  place,  we  shall  find  ourselves  in  the  same  inex- 
tricable difficulties  as  when  endeavouring  to  account  for  the 
mode  of  first  formations  by  secondary  causes.  We  must  make 
our  reason  bend  to  the  inscrutable  ways  of  the  Omnipotent, 
and  submit,  with  whatever  rebellious  reluctance,  to  the  great 
truth  every  where  impressed  upon  us,  that  "  the  ways  of  God 
are  not  as  our  ways,  nor  his  thoughts  as  our  thoughts."  All 
our  reasoning  must  end  in  this  point,  that  the  deluge,  like 
the  creation,  was  a  preternatural  event,  which  could  by  no 
means  be  brought  about  but  by  preternatural  means ;  and  con- 
sequently, that  we  should  in  vain  search  for  a  cause  in  the 
mere  laws  of  nature. 

*  Chapter  i,  page  37,  note. 

t  Would  not  a  hollow  glass  globe,  of  one  foot  in  diameter,  con- 
tain infinitely  more  water  than  would  be  necessary  slightly  to  moisten 
its  exterior  surface  ? 


CHAPTER  VII. 


Mosaic  Account  of  the  Deluge. — Tlie  Mountains  of  Ararat. — 
Origin  of  that  remarkable  Name. — Effects  during  the  De- 
luge.— Action  of  the  Tides  and  the  Currents  during  the  De- 
luge.—  Their  Effects  upon  Organic  Bodies. — Diluvial  Strata. 
— Abatement  of  the  Waters. — Renewal  of  the  Face  of  the 
Earth. 

Having  thus,  by  a  variety  of  evidence,  convinced  ourselves 
that  a  universal  deluge  took  place  upon  our  earth,  from  which 
but  one  family  of  human  beings  was  saved  by  the  mercy  of 
the  Almighty;*  and  that,  in  this  deluge,  not  only  the  antedi- 
luvian race,  but  the  antediluvian  earth  or  dry  land  on  which 
they  dwelt,  was  destroyed,  we  can  be  at  no  great  distance 
from  the  truth,  if  we  suppose,  though  it  is  no  where  stated 
in  direct  terms,  that  the  deluge  was  effected  by  the  inter- 
change of  level  between  the  former  sea  and  land ;  or,  in  other 
words,  that  either  the  bed  of  the  former  sea  was  gradually 
elevated^  or  "  broken  up ,-"  or  that  the  first  land  was  gradually 
depressed  beneath  the  level  of  the  waters ;  or,  perhaps,  by  a 
combination  of  both;  in  either  of  which  cases,  the  effects 
would  be  exactly  such  as  are  described  in  the  Mosaic  record. 

*  The  preservation  of  one  family,  at  the  deluge,  may  he  looked 
upon  as  one  of  the  most  remarkable  instances  of  divine  wisdom  and 
providence :  for  there  could  have  been  no  greater  difficulty  to  the 
Almighty  power,  in  forming,  in  this  instance,  an  entirely  new  crea- 
tion, than  in  doing  so  in  the  begiiining  of  the  world.  But  if  all 
mankind  had  perished,  a  new  race  could  not  have  been  so  deeply 
impressed  with  the  terror  of  tliis  great  event,  as  we  now  find  tlie 
most  distant  nations  are  :  and  if  we  had  only  historical  evidence  of 
its  having  happened,  unsupported  by  tradition  and  facts,  the  recital 
would  be  found  to  make  but  a  slight  impression  upon  our  minds. 
I 


94  GEOLOGY  OF  SCRIPTURE. 

Let  us  now  consider  this  record  itself. 

"And  God  looked  upon  the  earth,  and  behold  it  was  cor- 
rupt; for  all  flesh  had  corrupted  his  way  upon  the  earth* 
And  God  said  unto  Noah,  The  end  of  all  flesh  is  come  before 
me  ;  for  the  earth  is  filled  with  violence  through  them  (men) ; 
and  behold  I  will  destroy  them,  with  the  earth.''''  "  Behold 
I,  even  I,  do  bring-  a  flood  of  waters  upon  the  earth,  to  destroy 
all  flesh,  wherein  is  the  breath  of  life,  from  under  heaven ; 
and  every  thing-  that  is  in  the  earth  shall  die."  "And,  in 
the  six  hundredth  year  of  Noah's  life,  in  the  second  month, 
the  seventeenth  day  of  the  month,  the  same  day  were  all  the 
fountains  of  the  great  deep  broken  up,  and  the  windows  of 
heaven  were  opened."  "And  it  came  to  pass,  after  seven 
days,  that  the  waters  of  the  flood  were  upon  the  earth." 
"  And  the  same  day  were  all  the  fountains  of  the  great  deep 
broken  up,  and  the  windows  of  heaven  were  opened." 
"And  the  rain  was  upon  the  earth  forty  days  and  forty 
nig-hts."  "And  the  waters  prevailed,  and  were  increased 
greatly  upon  the  earth,  and  the  ark  went  upon  the  face  of  the 
waters."  "  And  all  the  high  hills,  that  were  under  the  whole 
heaven,  were  covered."  "  Fifteen  cubits  upwards  (above 
the  highest  hills)  did  the  waters  prevail,  and  the  mountains 
were  covered."  "  And  the  waters  prevailed  upon  the  earth 
an  hundred  and  fifty  days."  At  length,  "  God  made  a  wind 
to  pass  over  the  earth ;  and  the  waters  assuaged.  The 
fountains  also  of  the  deep,  and  the  windows  of  heaven  were 
stopped,  and  the  rain  from  heaven  was  restrained.  And  the 
waters  returned  from  off"  the  earth  continually ;  and  after  the 
end  of  the  hundred  and  fifty  days  the  waters  were  abated. 
And  the  ark  rested  in  the  seventh  month,  on  the  seventeenth 
day  of  the  month,  upon  the  mountains  of  Ararat.  And  the 
waters  decreased  continually  until  the  tenth  month :  in  the 
tenth  month,  on  the  first  day  of  the  month,  were  the  tops  of 
the  mountains  seen.  And  it  came  to  pass  at  the  end  of  forty 
days,  that  Noah  opened  the  window  of  the  ark,  which  he  had 
made.  And  he  sent  forth  a  raven,  which  went  forth,  to  and 
fro,  until  the  waters  were  dried  up  from  off  the  earth.  Also 
he  sent  forth  a  dove  from  him,  to  see  if  the  waters  were 
abated  from  off"  the  face  of  the  ground.  But  the  dove  found 
no  rest  for  the  sole  of  her  foot,  and  she  returned  unto  him  into 
the  ark ;  for  the  waters  were  on  the  face  of  the  whole  earth : 
then  he  put  forth  his  hand,  and  took  her,  and  pulled  her  in 
unto  him,  into  the  ark.     And  he  stayed  yet  other  seven  days, 


GEOLOGY  OF  SCRIPTURE.  95 

and  again  he  sent  forth  the  dove  out  of  the  ark ;  and  the  dove 
came  in  to  him  in  the  evening ;  and,  lo,  in  her  mouth  was  an 
olive  leaf  plucked  off:  so  Noah  knew  that  the  waters  were 
abated  from  off  the  earth ;  and  he  staid  yet  other  seven  days, 
and  sent  forth  the  dove,  which  returned  not  again  unto  him 
any  more."  "And  Noah  removed  the  covering  of  the  ark, 
and  looked,  and  behold  the  face  of  the  ground  was  dry.  And 
in  the  second  month,  on  the  seven  and  twentieth  day  of  the 
month,  was  the  earth  dried."* 

Thus  the  whole  duration  of  this  dreadful  event  was  one 
year  and  ten  days ;  or  from  the  seventeenth  day  of  the  second 
month  of  one  year,  until  the  twenty-seventh  day  of  the  second 
month  of  the  next  year. 

Now,  in  the  whole  of  this  narrative,  we  find  no  one  cir- 
cumstance to  lead  us  to  a  supposition,  that  the  same  earthy  or 
dry  land,  existed  after  the  flood,  as  had  been  inhabited  pre- 
vious to  that  event ;  or  to  contradict  the  united  evidence  of  the 
declaration  of  the  intention  of  God  to  destroy  the  earth,  and  of 
the  physical  facts  with  which  we  are  now  surrounded,  on 
every  part  of  the  present  dry  land.  An  erroneous  idea  is, 
however,  very  general  with  respect  to  "/Ae  mountains  of  Ara- 
rat,'''' which  are  commonly  considered  as  having  been  moun- 
tains on  the  old  earth,  and  known  to  Noah.  There  can  be 
no  one  reason  given  from  the  narrative  for  this  opinion,  and 
there  are  many  of  the  most  decided  character  to  lead  us  to 
an  opposite  conclusion. |     The  inspired  historian  is  describ- 

*  "  According  to  the  account  given  by  Moses,  the  ark  was  300 
cubits  long,  50  broad  and  30  higb ;  but  the  length  of  this  cubit  has 
given  rise  to  much  argument  and  conjecture.  Some  have  supposed 
it  to  be  nine  feet,  and  otbers  tbree  ;  but  tbe  opinions  most  worthy  of 
notice  are,  1st,  That  of  Bishop  Cumberland,  who  considered  the 
Hebrew  cubit  as  about  22  inches,  which  would  make  the  ark  550 
feet  long,  91  broad  and  55  high.  2d,  That  of  the  learned  Park- 
hurst,  who  computes  the  cubit  at  something  less  that  18  inches, 
which  makes  the  ark  450  feet  long,  75  broad  and  45  high.  Even 
upon  tbe  smallest  estimate  of  this  cubic  measure,  the  competency  of 
the  ark,  for  the  purpose  assigned  to  it,  has  been  satisfactorily  proved 
by  different  writers  ;  but,  especially,  by  tbe  ingenious  Bishop  Wil- 
kins,  who  has  established  the  point  with  a  clearness  and  exactness 
almost  amounting  to  demonstration,  and  rather  found  too  much  than 
too  little  room.  Thus  does  this  seeming  difficulty,  like  many  others 
connected  with  scripture  history,  the  more  closely  it  is  investigated, 
furnish  an  evidence,  instead  of  an  objection,  to  the  ti-utb  of  revealed 
religion." — Edin.  Encyclop.  Jirk. 

t  Jerom  places  Moiuit  Ararat  towards  the  middle  of  Armenia,  near 


96  GEOLOGY  OF  SCRIPTURE. 

ing  to  the  Jewish  nation,  many  years  after  the  event,  and 
when  the  continent  of  Asia  had  become  perfectly  well  known, 
and  thickly  peopled,  the  circumstances  of  the  destruction  of 
the  former  world  by  means  of  the  flood  ;  and  he  relates,  that 
on  the  subsiding  of  the  waters,  the  ark,  with  its  inhabitants, 
grounded  on  one  of  the  points  of  a  ridge  of  mountains,  which 
was,  from  henceforth,  to  be  remarkable  amongst  the  inhabit- 
ants of  the  East,  and  to  which  those  saved  from  the  deluge 
gave  the  expressive  name  of  Ararat,  or  the  curse  of  tremb- 
ling (which  is  the  meaning  of  the  Hebrew  word),  that  the 
memory  of  the  dreadful  event  from  which  they  had  just 
escaped  might  be  handed  down  as  long  as  the  mountain  was 
in  being,  on  which  they  had  been  saved.  We  may  also  come 
to  the  same  conclusion  when  we  consider  the  improbability 
of  the  ark  floating  quietly  for  nearly  a  year  on  the  surface  of 
an  ocean  as  much  effected  by  winds  and  tides  as  our  present 
seas,  being  stranded  in  the  immediate  neighbourhood  of  the 
place  whence  it  is  generally,  but  erroneously,  supposed  to 
have  been  first  borne  up  by  the  waters  :  and,  also,  the  equally 
improbable  circumstance  of  any  mountain  of  the  old  world 
bearing  such  a  title  as  the  curse  of  trembling,  previous  to  any 
event  likely  to  call  forth  so  remarkable  a  name.  We  must 
not  forget,  besides,  that  even  those  who  support  the  idea  of 
our  now  inhabiting  the  antediluvian  earth,  admit  that  the 
effects  of  the  deluge  were  such  as  would  probably  prevent 
the  recognition  by  those  in  the  ark,  of  any  part  of  the  former 
countries  they  had  known,  as  the  surface  must  have  been 
every  where  loaded  with  diluvial  soils  of  very  great  depth. 

the  river  Araxes,  or  Aras,  about  280  miles  north-east  of  Al  Judi,  and 
12  leagues  south-east  of  Erivan.  It  is  detached  from  the  other 
mouQtains  in  its  neighbourhood,  and  stands  in  the  midst  of  a  very- 
extensive  plain.  It  is  in  the  form  of  a  sugar-loaf,  and  has  two  dis- 
tinct summits,  the  largest  of  which  is  perpetually  covered  with  snow, 
and  may  be  seen  at  a  great  distance.  It  is  not  a  little  singular,  that 
the  description  of  Mount  Parnassus,  by  Ovid,  should  bear  so  close 
a  resemblance  to  this  account  of  Ararat : 

"  Mons  ibi  verticibus  petit  arduus  astra  duobus 
Nomine  Parnassus,  superatque  cacumine  nubes." 

The  surface  of  the  lower  part  is  composed  of  loose  sand,  or  large 
masses  of  free  stone.     Notliing  is  to  be  seen  growing  upon  it  but 
some  juniper  and  goat's  thorn.     The  whole  mountain  is  described 
by  travellers  as  having  a  gloomy  and  disagreeable  aspect. — Totime- 
,  Tavenue)\  &c. 


% 


GEOLOGY  OF  SCRIPTURE.  97 

All  these  reasons,  taken  collectively,  and  supporting  the 
positive  sentence  of  destruction  passed  upon  "  the  earth  that 
then  was,"  leave  no  room  to  doubt  as  to  the  mode  by  which 
this  sentence  was  put  in  execution.  We  may,  therefore, 
conclude,  that  when  the  time  was  come,  when  this  great 
revolution  was  to  happen,  the  dry  land  began  gradually 
and  insensibly  to  sink,  or  the  surface  of  the  bed  of  the 
former  ocean  as  gradually  to  rise ;  the  whole  accompanied 
with  such  a  convulsion  of  the  elements,  such  torrents  of 
rain,  and,  probably,  such  peals  of  thunder,  as  would  be  cal- 
culated not  only  to  make  a  lasting  impression  upon  the 
minds  of  those  who  escaped ;  but  to  render  the  punishment 
of  those  who  suffered  from  this  Curse  of  Trembling  the  most 
awful  and  heart-rending  that  the  mind  of  man  can  conceive  !* 
The  living  creatures  upon  the  earth,  of  every  kind,  must 
then  have  been  gradually  swept  from  the  elevations  on  which 
they  would  naturally  seek  safety :  and  at  the  end  of  forty 
days  the  whole  globe  became  again  overspread  with  the 
same  thin  coat  of  water,  from  the  effects  of  which  it  was 
^^  invisible''''  on  the  first  and  second  days  of  the  creation. 

*  We  may  apply  to  this  subject  the  sublime  expressions  of  the  In- 
spired Psalmist,  when  alluding  to  the  miraculous  preservation  of 
the  children  of  Israel,  pursued  by  the  Egyptians ;  and  it  is  even 
probable,  that  he  had  also  in  view  the  very  event  we  are  now  con- 
templating. 

"  The  waters  saw  thee,  O  God,  the  waters  saw  thee  ;  they  were 
afraid  :  the  depths  also  were  troubled.  The  clouds  poured  out 
water  :  the  skies  sent  out  a  sound  :  thine  arrows  also  went  abroad. 
The  voice  of  thy  thunder  was  in  heaven  :  the  lightenings  lightened 
the  world ;  tlie  eartli  trembled  and  shook.  Thy  way  is  in  the  sea, 
and  thy  path  in  the  great  waters,  and  thy  footsteps  are  not  known. " 
—Psalm  Ixxvii. 

In  the  104th  Psalm,  we  find  what  may  be  considered  a  more  di- 
rect allusion  to  the  creation,  and  to  the  period  of  the  deluge,  in  . 
the  following  sublime  passage. 

"Who  laid  the  foimdations  of  the  earth,  that  it  should  not  be 
removed  for  ever. 

"  Thou  coveredstit  with  the  deep,  as  with  a  garment :  the  waters 
stood  above  the  mountains. 

"  At  Thy  rebuke  they  fled  ;  at  the  voice  of  Thy  thunders  they 
hasted  away. 

"  They  go  up  by  the  mountains  ;  they  go  down  by  the  valleys 
unto  the  place  which  Thou  hast  founded  for  them. 

"  Thou  hast  set  a  bound  that  they  may  not  pass  over ;  that  they 
turn  not  AGAIN  to  cover  tJie  earth. " 
I  2 


98  GEOLOGY  OP  SCRIPTURE. 

"  Jamque  mare  et  tellus  nullum  discrimen  habeljat ; 
Omnia  pontus  erant ;  deerant  quoque  littora  ponto." 

For  150  days,  or  for  about  five  months,  this  universal 
aqueous  covering  remained  nearly  stationary  ;  and  it  is  from 
this  long  continuance  of  the  waters  upon  the  earth,  that  we 
can  account,  in  a  satisfactory  manner,  for  many  of  the  strati- 
fied appearances  in  the  ujiper  beds,  which  we  had  before 
remarked  in  the  lower  secondary  formations.  We  feel 
quite  assured,  that  though,  by  this  great  revolution,  the  face 
of  all  things  upon  the  earth's  surface  was  to  become  changed, 
yet  the  planet  still  retained  its  regular  position  and  place  in 
the  solar  system,  and  must,  consequently,  have  continued  to 
be  affected,  as  it  was  at  other  times,  by  the  influences  of  the 
sun  and  of  the  moon.  The  action  of  the  tides  and  of  the 
currents,  which  we  have  before  considered,  must  now  have 
had  a  most  powerful  influence  both  during  the  rise,  the  co7i- 
tinuance,  and  the  abatement  of  the  waters.  The  surface  of 
the  all-prevailing  ocean  must  now  have  been  covered  with 
the  wreck  and  ruin  of  the  animal  and  vegetable  world,  floated 
off  in  various  directions,  according  to  the  currents,  and  the 
eddies,  which  must  have  every  where  prevailed.  The  soils 
of  the  old  earth,  loosened  by  the  moisture,  must  now  have 
become  suspended  in  the  turbid  waters,  and  been  deposited 
in  the  bed  of  the  ocean  as  at  other  times,  only  in  unusual 
quantit}'.*  Dead  bodies  of  every  description,  swelled  up  by 
corruption,  must  now  have  followed  the  courses  of  the  cur- 
rents, and  floated  or  sunk,  according  to  the  state  they  hap- 
pened to  be  in.  Those  of  the  larger  animals  more  especially, 
would  long  continue  floating  on  the  waves,  like  strong  blad- 
ders filled  with  mephetic  vapours,  and  be  hurried  far  from 
their  natural  climates,  to  excite  the  wonder  and  speculation 
of  succeeding  generations. 

*  In  a  former  note,  referring  to  the  lately  published  work  of  Mr. 
Lyell,  (see  page  71),  we  had  occasion  to  observe  the  wonderful 
effects  of  rivers,  in  transporting  materials  for  the  formati5n  of 
secondary  strata  in  the  bed  of  the  sea.  The  account  given  in  that 
note,  of  the  mud  of  the  Ganges,  in  its  daily  course,  will  serve  to 
give  us  some  faint  idea  of  the  tui-bid  state  of  the  whole  ocean,  at 
this  eventful  period  :  and  the  sediments  deposited  by  this  catastro- 
phe, added  to  the  secondary  formations  in  the  antediluvian  sea, 
formed  in  the  space  of  1650  years,  will  produce  a  much  more  con- 
sistent result  tlian  can  possibly  be  extracted  from  the  theories  of 
geology,  which  give  an  unlimited  time  to  the  age  of  the  world. 


GEOLOGY  OF  SCRIPTURE.  99 

At  length  the  waters  are  permitted  to  subside  ;  the  full 
purpose  of  the  Almighty  has  been  accomplished.  The  earth 
and  its  inhabitants  have .  been  destroyed  ;  and  the  waters  are 
again  to  be  "gathered  unto  one  place,"  to  "  let  the  dry  land" 
once  more  "appear."  What  a  scene  now  presents  itself  to 
the  mind's  eye  !  for  no  human  eye  could  look  upon  it ;  even 
Noah  himself  could  form  no  distinct  idea  of  the  state  of  the 
new  earth,  but  by  sending  out  one  of  his  feathered  family, 
who  he  knew  would  return  to  him,  if  "  she  found  no  rest  for 
the  sole  of  her  foot."  Week  after  week  passed  with  those 
occasional  experiments,  long  after  the  ark  had  been  finally 
lodged  upon  the  heights  of  Ararat.  It  is  now  left  to  our 
imagination  to  conceive  effects  which,  though  not  described, 
must  have  naturally  followed  such  powerful  causes.  As  the 
waters  gradually  subsided  into  their  new  bed,  the  dry  land, 
which  was  now  to  come  for  the  first  time  into  the  light  of 
day,  must  have  presented  a  most  singular  appearance.  We 
must  keep  in  mind,  that  as  the  bed  of  the  first  ocean  had 
become  charged  with  the  stratified  debris  of  upwards  of 
sixteen  centuries,  deposited  upon  it  by  the  laws  of  gravita- 
tion and  of  the  currents,  the  surface  of  this  bed,  when  raised 
above  the  new  level  of  the  waters,  must  have  been  soft,  and 
still  saturated  with  the  moisture  of  the  slowly  retiring  seas. 
As  the  waters  became  more  and  more  shallow,  they  would 
act  with  the  more  violent  effect  upon  the  soft  and  muddy 
plains  over  which  the  tides,  the  currents,  and  the  winds,  must 
now  have  swept  with  irresistible  force.  As  point  after  point 
upon  the  new  and  soft  earth  became  liberated  from  their 
sway,  the  various  floating  bodies,  whether  animal  or  vege- 
table, would  be  scattered  on  the  surface,  or  deeply  embedded 
in  the  yielding  mud  or  sand  by  the  violence  of  the  waves. 
Other  mixed  masses  of  organic  remains,  brought  into  one 
place  in  an  indiscriminate  heap,  by  the  eddies  of  the  waters, 
would  now  be  covered  up  by  these  new  secondary  formations, 
of  mud,  or  gravel,  which  formations  would  be  of  very  con- 
siderable depth,  from  the  enormous  quantities  of  materials 
thus  furnished  in  a  preternatural  way.  It  is  also  highly 
probable  that  many  submarine  volcanic  districts  would  now 
become  exposed,  and  also  that  even  volcanic  action  was  not 
wanting  to  complete  the  terrors  of  this  curse  of  trembling. 
In  whatever  manner  the  Almighty  thought  fit  to  bring  about 
this  elevation  of  the  bed  of  the  antediluvian  sea,  it  is  to  be 
supposed  that  the  "  breaking  up"  of  the  fountains,  or  foun-. 


100  GEOLOGY  OP  SCRIPTURE. 

dations,  of  the  great  deep  must  have  occasioned  that  elevation 
and  derangement  in  the  horizontal  stratifications  of  some  of 
the  secondary  formations  which  we  have  hitherto  speculated 
upon  in  darkness,  and  in  error :  and  that  we  should  conse- 
quently find  them,  when  fully  exposed  to  our  view,  in  a 
highly  inclined,  and  sometimes  even  in  a  vertical  position.* 

Let  us  imagine  to  ourselves  the  whole  vegetable  kingdom 
of  the  earth  deposited  at  various  depths,f  and  more  or  less 
covered  up  by  the  sandy  or  other  sediments  of  the  deluge. 
We  look  in  vain  to  the  most  terrific  catastrophes  of  our  own 
times,  to  give  us  a  faint  idea  of  the  scene  which  the  earth 
must  now  have  presented.  Those  who  have  witnessed  the 
raging  of  a  hurricane  on  the  ocean,  many  leagues  distant 
from  any  land,  can  perhaps  best  form  a  conception  of  this 
watery  waste,  unsheltered  by  any  shore. 

The  tossing  of  a  tall  ship,  at  the  mercy  of  a  raging  sea, 
may  best  represent  the  manner  in  which  the  floating  masses 
must  have  been  precipitated  on  the  yielding  shoals.  For 
"  they  that  go  down  to  the  sea  in  ships,  and  do  business  in 
the  great  waters ;  these  see  the  works  of  the  Lord,  and 
his  wonders  in  the  deep." 

At  length  it  was  permitted  to  the  elements,  by  the  Great 
Ruler  of  the  storm,  to  resume  their  wonted  order  and  regu- 
larity. 

*'  Surgit  humus,  crescunt  loca  decrescentibus  undis.'* 
The  new  bed   of  the   ocean,  when  sunk  to  the  necessary 

*  All  such  derangements  of  the  stratifications  of  the  surface  of 
the  earth,  must  not,  however,  be  attributed  to  this  cause,  for  there 
can  be  no  doubt,  that  in  the  upper  strata  occasioned  by  the  deluge, 
and  left  by  the  waters  in  a  very  moist  state,  the  derangements  of 
their  level  must  be  accounted  for  in  the  very  natui-al  way  of  subsi- 
dence in  the  course  of  dessication. 

t  We  are  enabled  to  form  some  idea  of  the  floating  or  sinking 
masses  of  matted  vegetable  productions,  from  the  accounts  given 
us  of  the  floating  islands  of  timber,  in  some  of  the  American  lakes  : 
these  are  often  several  miles  in  length,  and  of  very  considerable 
breadth  and  depth,  rising  or  falling  with  the  water,  and  covered 
with  vegetation.  In  the  deluge,  when  tlie  soils  of  the  forests  be- 
came saturated  with  moisture,  the  whole  vegetable  mass  would 
naturally  rise  to  the  surface,  bound  together  by  the  roots  and 
branches,  and  be  floated  off"  by  whatever  current  happened  to  pre- 
vail in  their  immediate  neighbourhood. 


GEOLOGY  OF  SCRIPTURE.  101 

depth,  was  there  arrested  ;  and  means  were  thus  afforded  to 
the  new  dry  land,  of  becoming  gradually  drained  of  its  super- 
abundant moisture.  The  order  of  the  world  was  to  be  rein- 
stated, and  the  command  was  given  to  Noah  to  quit  the 
ark,  and  to  lead  out  with  him  his  family,  and  every  living 
creature  that  had  been  with  him  in  the  ark,  that  they  might 
*' breed  abundantly  in  the  earth,  and  be  fruitful  and  multiply 
upon  the  earth."  "  And  God  said,  I  will  not  again  smite 
every  living  thing,  as  I  have  done ;  hut  while  the  earth  remaiw 
eth^  seed  time  and  harvest,  and  cold  and  heat,  and  summer 
and  winter,  and  day  and  night,  shall  not  cease." 

It  seems  scarcely  necessary  here  to  raise  a  question  as  to 
how  the  new  world  became  again  replenished  with  verdure, 
and  adorned  with  a  renewal  of  all  those  riches  which  the 
deluge  must  have  so  completely  destroyed ;  because  all  who 
are  deeply  impressed  with  the  effects  produced  by  the  fiat  of 
the  Almighty,  at  the  first  creation,  must  be  satisfied  that, 
though  no  direct  mention  is  made  of  a  new  creation  of  vege- 
table substances  after  the  deluge,  it  must  have  been  both  as 
necessary,  and  as  easy  an  operation,  as  in  the  beginning. 
The  vegetable  world  must  have  been  completely  obliterated  at 
the  deluge,  even  supposing  that  the  old  earth  had  merely 
suffered  from  a  passing  event :  but  when  we  find  that  the 
new  earth  which  we  now  inhabit,  appeared  then,  for  the 
first  time,  in  the  light  of  the  sun,  and  that  it  must  have  been 
composed  of  moist  soils,  on  which  no  vegetable  production 
had  ever  grown,  we  shall  be  forced  to  the  conclusion  which 
is  most  consistent  with  reason,  in  the  absence  of  historical 
evidence ;  and  that  is,  that  the  creative  power  must  have 
been  again  exercised  upon  this  occasion.  Nor  shall  we, 
indeed,  find  it  necessary  to  stop  at  a  new  vegetable  world  ; 
for  there  are  many  reasons  for  extending  this  conclusion  also 
to  the  animal  world,  though,  probably,  on  a  less  extended 
scale,  as  we  have  the  positive  evidence  both  of  tradition  and 
of  history,  as  to  a  great  variety  of  animals  having  been 
saved  in  the  ark,  together  with  Noah  and  his  family.  It 
appears  more  than  probable,  however,  that  we  ought  to  con- 
sider the  strong  expression  used  in  the  record,  "  of  every 
living  thing  of  all  Jlesh,''^  in  the  same  sense  as  we  find  it  in 
various  other  parts  of  Scripture  ;  and,  indeed,  as  such  ex- 
pressions are  often  used  in  our  own,  and  in  other  languages, 
that  is,' not  as  literally  meaning  every  created  being  over  the 
whole  globe,  but  merely  a  great  number. 


102  GEOLOGY  OF  SCRIPTURE. 

Michaelis*  remarks,  "the  Jews  have  well  observed  that 
the  expression  all,  every,  is  not  to  be  understood,  on  all  occa- 
sions, with  the  mathematical  sense  of  all ;  because  it  is  also 
used  to  signify  many.  Thus,  in  Isaiah  xxiv.  10,  where  we 
read  *  every  house  is  shut  up,'  Kimchi  most  truly  observes, 
though  he  says  every  house,  he  only  means  many ,-  as  it  is 
said,  all  countries  came  into  E  gy pt.  And  if  we  reflect  upon 
our  own  native  tongues,  we  shall  find  that  we  often  use  the 
term  all  for  many,  or  most.  We  have  also  a  remarkable 
example  of  this  strong  mode  of  speech  in  1  Kings,  xviii.  10, 
where  Obadiah  affirms  thus  forcibly  and  solemnly  to  Elijah : 
'  As  the  Lord  thy  God  liveth,  there  is  no  nation  or  kingdom, 
whither  my  lord  hath  not  sent  to  seek  thee :'  which  affirma- 
tion, though  universal  in  its  terms,  was  evidently  not  design- 
ed to  be  universal  in  its  signification,-  and  innumerable 
instances  of  the  same  mode  of  speech  occur  in  the  Sacred 
Wri  tings,  "f- 

We  have  some  reason  to  doubt,  from  the  fossil  remains  of 
animals  now  discovered,  which  have  not  yet  been  found  alive 
upon  the  present  earth,  whether  every  living  creature  was  in- 
cluded in  this  strong  expression :  and  though,  from  the  remark- 
able circumstance  of  the  similarity  of  all  languages  in  certain 
commom  expressions,  and  in  the  universal  tradition  of  the 
deluge  found  amongst  the  most  distant  and  savage  nations, 
we  feel  assured  that  the  whole  existing  race  of  man  on  the 
whole  earth,  has  sprung  from  Noah  and  his  family  ;  we 
have  no  evidence  to  lead  us  to  the  same  conclusion  with 
respect  to  quadrupeds,  or  birds  found  in  such  isolated  coun- 
tries as  New  Holland,  where  the  species  so  entirely  diifer 
from  every  kind  known  on  other  parts  of  the  earth.  With 
respect,  also,  to  the  lower  classes  of  animated  beings,  includ- 
ing reptiles,  insects,  and  animalcula,  to  which  latter  there 
seems  no  bound  in  the  creation,  we  feel  inclined  to  believe 
that  a  new  creative  power  was  exercised  after  the  deluge ; 
and  we  may,  in  this  instance,  say  with  the  inspired  Psalm- 

*  Michaelis  was  a  celebrated  German  theologian  and  biblical 
critic,  who  died  in  1791.  The  extensive  knowledge  which  he  had 
acquired  in  biblical  philology,  as  well  as  in  every  department  of 
learning  connected  with  the  study  of  the  Scriptures,  enabled  him 
to  form  very  accurate  notions  on  the  original  institutions  and  lan- 
guage of  the  Hebrews.  He  was  professor  of  Hebrew,  Arabic,  and 
Syriac,  in  the  University  of  Gottingen. 

t  Comp.  Estira.  ii.  p.  214. 


GEOLOGY  OP  SCRIPTURE.  103 

ist,  "  He  took  away  liieir  breath,  and  they  died,  and  returned 
to  their  dust :  He  sent  forth  His  Spirit,  and  they  were 
created^  and  He  renewed  the  face  of  the  earths 

It  may,  perhaps,  here  be  asked,  What  reason  can  be  as- 
signed for  the  slow  and  gradual  course  of  this  awful  judg- 
ment ;  since,  if  the  first  formation  of  the  bed  of  the  sea  were 
an  instantaneous  operation,  the  destruction  of  the  earth  by  a 
deluge  could,,  and  probably  would,  be  equally  rapid.  But 
various  good  and  sufficient  reasons  may  be  given,  for  a  gra- 
dual, rather  than  an  instantaneous,  operation,  in  the  case  of 
the  deluge.  And,  first,  we  must  consider,  that,  by  this  me- 
thod, the  great  moral  impression  which  was  intended  to  be 
made  upon  the  family  of  Noah,  and  upon  all  succeeding  gene- 
rations, would  be  much  more  effectual,  by  the  lonw  continu- 
ance of  their  terror,  than  if  they  had  been  stunned,  and,  as 
it  were,  thunderstruck,  by  a  dreadful,  but  rapid  calamity. 
Again,  we  must  remember,  that  as  the  All-Wise  Ruler  of  the 
Universe  had  ulterior  views  for  the  welfare  of  his  human 
creatures,  a  gradual  operation  acting  upon  what  was  to  be 
the  new  earth,  would  render  it  better  fitted  for  a  habitation 
for  mankind,  than  if  the  bed  of  the  sea,  with  its  soft  sedi- 
ments, had,  by  one  violent  convulsive  throe,  been  elevated 
above  the  surface,  and  thus  left  dry,  in  the  most  deranged 
and  ruinous  condition.  Besides,  any  such  sudden  convulsion 
must  have  caused  so  violent  an  agitation,  that  the  natural 
means  of  preservation  prescribed  to  Noah,  by  the  Almighty 
himself,  must  have  been  overpowered  by  the  preternatural 
vortex  into  which  the  vessel  would  have  been  plunged. 

Thus,  although  we  can  in  no  way  account  for  the  deluge, 
but  by  supernatural  agency,  yet  the  command  given  to  Noah 
to  make  use  of  so  common  a  means  of  safety  as  a  floating 
vessel,  shows  us  that  it  was  the  intention  of  God  to  allow 
natural  means,  or  the  laws  of  nature,  to  take  their  course, 
after  the  first  impulse  had  been  given  by  his  preternatural 
decree.* 

*  The  experience  of  every  year  ought  to  teach  us  caution  in  com- 
ine  to  any  determined  conclusion  with  respect  to  extinct  races  of 
animals.  A  great  portion  of  the  earth  still  remains  unexplored, 
and  every  year  makes  us  acquainted  with  some  new  thing  in  the 
animal  world,  with  the  existence  of  which  we  were  before  unac- 
quainted. 


CHAPTER  VIII. 

General  View  of  the  existing  Surface. — Force  of  the  Waves. — 
Principles  of  Stratification. — Cavous  Limestone. — Gibraltar. 
— The  Plains  of  the  Earth. — Of  South  America. — Of  Africa, 
— Of  Asia. — Of  Europe. — Result  of  this  View. — Chalk  Ba- 
sins.— That  of  Paris,)  a  Guide  to  all  similar  Basins. — Salt 
Deposits. — Coal  Formations. — Evidences  of  Coal  being  a 
Marine,  and  not  a  Lacustrine  Formation. 

Thus  have  we  followed,  in  as  concise  a  manner  as  the 
subject  will  admit  of,  the  traditions  as  well  as  the  history  of 
this  awful  event,  both  supported  by  the  corroborative  evi- 
dence of  numerous  physical  facts  in  all  parts  of  the  world : 
and  we  cannot  doubt  its  having  been  the  intention  of  the 
Almighty,  that  the  memory  of  so  signal  a  judgment  should 
be  for  ever  deeply  imprinted  on  the  human  mind,  even  in 
the  most  distant  and  isolated  corners  of  the  earth.  But  we 
should  not  be  doing  justice  to  so  interesting  a  subject,  if  we 
left  it,  without  taking  a  general  view  of  the  present  surface 
of  the  habitable  globe,  and  further  tracing,  as  we  shall  every 
where  be  able  to  do,  the  lasting  monuments  of  it,  so  univer- 
sally presented  to  our  consideration. 

When  we  consider,  then,  the  state  of  the  earth,  as  it  now 
is,  we  find  it  divided  into  sea  and  land  ;  but  so  unequally, 
that  the  ocean  occupies  about  three-fifths  of  the  whole  sur- 
face ;  and  if  a  meridian  line  be  taken  to  divide  the  earth 
equally,  we  shall  find  the  proportions  of  land  and  water,  on 
the  opposite  sides,  strikingly  different :  there  being  a  great 
preponderance  of  water  on  the  southern,  and  of  land  in  the 
northern  hemisphere.* 

*  We  shall  have  a  futui'e  opportunity  of  remai-king  the  difference 
of  temperature  between  Uie  Southern  and  Northern  Polar  regions. 


GEOLOGY  OP  SCRIPTURE.  105 

On  viewing,  on  the  great  scale,  the  general  condition  of 
this  land,  we  find  by  far  the  greater  portion  of  it  but  little 
elevated  above  the  level  of  the  ocean  :  so  little,  indeed,  that 
it  may  be  safely  said  that  nine-tenths  of  the  whole  would  be 
again  submerged,  either  by  a  rise  in  the  level  of  the  waters 
of  a  very  few  hundred  feet^  or  by  a  depression  of  the  land  to 
a  similar  trifling  extent.  There  is,  perhaps,  no  portion  of 
the  whole  extent  of  the  plains  of  the  earth,  where  the  primi- 
tive surface  of  the  globe  can  be  seen.  Nor  can  it  even  be 
reached  by  minings  without  a  deep  section  of  various  second- 
ary formations.  Even  the  most  elevated  plains,  and  many 
mountains  of  very  considerable  height,  are  either  entirely 
formed  of,  or  heavily  loaded  with,  strata  of  secondary  rocks. 
It  is,  generally,  only  on  the  tops  of  the  most  elevated  moun- 
tain ridges,  where  the  primitive  formations  of  the  earth  are 
found  in  mass.  But  the  lower  portions  of  even  the  highest 
mountains,  bear  unequivocal  marks  of  their  having  once 
formed  the  bed  of  the  sea :  and  fossil  sea  shells  have  been  found 
upon  the  Andes,  at  an  elevation  of  14,000  feet  above  the 
present  level  of  the  ocean.  Whole  ridges,  however,  of  very 
considerable  height,  are  found  to  be  entirely  formed  of  these 
secondary  formations ;  and  so  full  of  fossil  shells,  that  no 
doubt  can  be  entertained  of  their  present  site  having  once 
formed  the  bottom  of  the  sea. 

The  ridge  of  the  Jura  mountains,  to  the  south-west  of  the 
Alpine  range  of  Switzerland,  is  one  of  the  most  remarkable 
and  best  known  of  these  secondary  formations.  This  ridge 
rises  from  3  to  4000  feet  above  the  level  of  the  Swiss  plain ; 
and  its  length  is  nearly  one  hundred  leagues,  being  from 
eighteen  to  twenty  in  breadth. 

It  is  almost  entirely  composed  of  compact  limestone,  in 
strata  which  alternate  with  beds  of  clay  and  shelly  marl ; 
and  the  stratification  is  so  much  inclined,  that  it  presents  a 
most  interesting  example  and  proof  of  a  raising  or  depress- 
ing power  having  been  in  force,  suhsequent  to  the  nearly  hori- 
zontal stratification  which  must  at  all  times  take  place  from 
a  deposition  in  water.  There  is,  also,  to  be  found  on  this 
secondary  ridge  a  remarkable  proof  of  a  great  mechanical 
power  having  been  exerted,  such  as  the  deluge  was  perhaps 

which  difference  may,  probably,  be  accounted  for  by  the  great  pre- 
ponderance of  land  in  the  one,  and  of  water  in  tlie  other  hemis- 
phere. 

K 


106  GEOLOGY  OF  SCRIPTURE. 

alone  capable  of.  Innumerable  masses  of  primitive  rock 
are  found  scattered  on  the  surface,  even  at  a  height  of  2500 
feet.  These  masses,  so  far  detached  from  their  parent  rock 
on  the  Alpine  summits,  (and  similar  masses  of  granite  are 
found  on  almost  all  the  alluvial  plains  of  Switzerland),  have 
given  rise  to  much  difficulty,  and  various  theories  among 
geologists,  all  which  are  rendered  nugatory,  by  referring 
their  present  locality  to  the  powers  of  the  deluge,  the  extent 
of  which  no  one  can  reasonably  doubt,  who  has  considered 
the  instances  of  mechanical  force  constantly  exhibited  by  the 
ocean  when  in  a  state  of  agitation. 

Some  recent  and  remarkable  instances  of  the  great  mechan- 
ical force  of  the  waves  may  be  interesting,  on  a  subject 
which  has  occasioned  so  much  theoretical  discussion  amongst 
philosophers.  In  the  Isle  of  Eshaness,  in  Shetland,  which 
is  exposed  to  the  full  fury  of  the  western  ocean,  huge  blocks 
of  stone  are  removed  far  from  their  native  beds,  and  hurried  up 
an  acclivity  to  an  almost  incredible  distance.  In  1802,  a  mass 
eight  feet  by  seven,  and  five  feet  thick,  was  dislodged  from 
its  bed,  and  removed  to  a  distance  of  about  90  feet.  The  bed 
from  which  another  block  had  been  removed,  in  1818,  was 
seventeen  and  a  half  feet  by  seven,  and  two  and  a  half  feet 
thick.  This  mass  had  been  borne  to  some  distance,  and  then 
shivered  into  many  lesser,  though  still  large,  fragments, 
which  were  carried  more  than  120  feet  further.  Ablock  nine 
feet  by  six  and  a  half,  and  four  feet  thick,  was  carried  up  a 
slope  a  distance  of  150  feet.  A  mass  of  rock,  the  average 
dimensions  of  which  may  be  rated  at  twelve  or  thirteen  feet 
square^  and  Jive  feet  thick,  was  first  moved  from  its  bed,  to  a 
distance  of  upwards  of  thirty  feet,  and  has  since  been  twice 
turned  over.  But  the  most  extraordinary  scene  is  in  a  breach 
of  porphyry  called  the  grind  of  the  Navir,  where  the  waves 
have  forced  a  passage,  separating  huge  stones  from  the  rock, 
and  forcing  them  to  a  distance  of  nearly  200  feet.  These 
fragments  are  accumulated  in  immense  heaps,  like  the  pro- 
duce of  a  quarry. 

In  Lunna,  several  large  detached  rocks,  called  the  stones  of 
Stephouse,  are  found  at  some  distance  from  the  sea,  having^vi- 
dently  been  transported  by  the  waters,  and  are  the  transported 
stones  of  geologists.  The  largest  is  about  23  feet  high,  and 
96  i?i  circumference. 

Amongst  the  remarkable  features  of  the  mountain  ridges  of 
the  earth,  are  the  naked  primitive  summits  of  the  highest 


GEOLOGY  OF  SCRIPTURE.  107 

peaks,  wliich  from  their  freedom  from  secondary  formations, 
and  other  marks  of  the  sea,  we  uiay,  with  much  probability, 
suppose  to  have  been  in  the  form  of  islands  in  the  antedilu- 
vian ocean;  and  as  all  islands  are  but  the  summits  of  sub- 
marine elevations,  it  is  natural  to  expect  to  find  the  lower^ 
parts  of  these  mountains,  which  must  have  long  been  cover-"^ 
ed  with  the  sea,  bearing  the  same  marks  of  secondary  and 
sedimentary  formations,  mixed  with  sea  shells,  that  are  found 
in  the  lower  levels  of  the  earth. 

As  we  descend  from  the  higher  grounds  towards  the  plains, 
we  are  every  where  struck  with  the  hills  of  various  heights 
and  forms,  entirely  composed  of  these  secondary  rocks,  and 
often  formed  of  nothing  but  rounded  gravel,  or  dry  sand, 
precisely  in  the  state  we  now  find  these  substances  on  our 
present  sea-shores,  and  under  the  continued  action  of  the 
waters.* 

One  cannot  but  be  sensibly  struck  with  the  close  similarity, 
of  these  elevations,  both  in  substance  and  in  form^  to  those 
minor  elevations,  and  valleys,  formed  by  the  present  sea,  in 
many  parts  of  its  siiores.  One  can  even  trace,  on  a  minute 
scale,  in  those  recent  beds  of  sand  and  gravel,  the  principles 
of  stratification  and  arrangement  which  we  remark  in  many  of 
the  great  secondary  formations,  and  in  the  great  beds  of  up- 
per alluvial  rocks  and  soils  :  and  as  we  have  already  had  oc- 
casion to  remark,  those  principles  are  founded  on  the  laws  of 
gravitation^  and  of  fiuids,  by  the  combined  action  of  which, 
the  raw  materials  of  secondary  formations,  when  once  indis- 
criminately brought  into  the  ocean  by  the  rivers,  in  the  man- 
ner before  described,  are  sifted  and  arranged  ;  and  the  vari- 
ous classes  separately  deposited,  according  to  the  action  of  the 
currents,  and  the  eddies  of  the  waters. f  It  is  by  the  action 
of  those  laws  alone,  that  we  can  account  for  the  great  beds  of 

*  The  hills  of  Palestine  ai-e  almost  all  formed  of  calwureous  rocks, 
l-emarkable  for  their  natural  cavities.  Those  wondertnl  stones  of 
which  the  temple  of  Jerusalem  was  built,  were  of  this  nature, 
abounding  in  fossil  shells.  The  pyramids  of  Egypt  are  also  built 
of  a  species  of  oolite,  which  is  full  of  small  fossil  shells,  which 
w^ere  once  thought  to  be  petrified  lentils,  and  other  seeds,  left  by 
the  workmen  employed  on  these  stupendous  fabrics.  This  is  nearly 
as  philosophical  a  way  of  accounting  for  them,  as  the  idea  of  Vol- 
taire, who  thought  the  fossil  fish  found  in  Italy  were  the  refuse 
Uirown  away  by  the  Roman  epicures. 

t  We  familiarly  make  use  of  these  same  laws,  on  many  occa- 
sions of  every  day  occuiTence.     If  we  wish  to  separate  any  dry  ar- 


108  GEOLOGY  OF  SCRIPTURE. 

sand  upon  one  part  of  a  coast,  all  equal  in  grain,  and  perfect- 
ly free  from  earthy  particles :  on  another  part  of  the  same 
coast,  and,  perhaps,  at  no  great  distance,  we  find  a  similar 
extent  of  rolled  ^mt>e/,  almost  entirely  free  from  sand:  on  a 
third,  a  bed  of  the  purest  clay^  perfectly  free  from  both;  and, 
perhaps,  on  a  fourth,  an  immense  accumulation  of  sea  shells. 

If,  then,  we  allow  for  the  action  of  those  laws  in  the  depth 
of  the  ocean,  only  on  a  scale  infinitely  more  enlarged,  and 
proportioned  to  the  extent,  both  of  the  material  and  the  agent., 
we  shall  find  a  much  more  easy  and  rational  means  of  account- 
ing for  the  geological  phenomena  on  the  surface  of  the  globe, 
than  all  the  wild  theories  yet  formed  by  philosophy  have  been 
able  to  produce ;  and  having  this  high  additional  value,  that 
instead  of  opposing  both  history  and  reason^  we  follow  the 
well  defined  track  of  both. 

The  most  common  source  of  error  in  forming  our  ideas  on 
the  formation  of  secondary  rocks  and  soils,  is  our  measuring 
the  works  performed  by  the  unceasiiig  action  of  the  laws  of  na- 
ture, by  the  small  and  contracted  scale  of  our  own  actions. 
Thus  we  almost  instantly  conclude,  on  observing  a  calcareous 
formation  some  hundreds  of  feet  in  depth,  that  it  must  have 
required  some  prodigiously  long  period  of  time  to  accumulate 
such  a  mass ;  whereas,  when  we  consider  the  action  of  one 
great  river,  such  as  the  Amazon,  or  the  St.  Lawrence,  (re- 
markable, as  all  the  American  rivers  are,  for  its  muddiness, 
and  tinging  the  ocean  for  60  or  70  leagues  from  its  mouth,) 
for  a  hundred  years,  and  bearing,  night  and  day,  its  prodigious 
load  of  mud  into  the  sea,  from  whence  it  never  returns ;  we 
must  perceive  that  our  ideas  on  such  subjects  are,  in  general, 
much  too  confined,  and  stand  greatly  in  need  of  revision  and 
correction.  It  is  not  yet  ascertained  to  what  depth  it  may  be 
necessary  to  probe,  before  we  come  to  the  primitive  surface ; 
but  it  is  highly  probable,  if  not  certain,  that  if  we  allow  a  mean 
thickness  of  one  mile,  for  the  whole  secondary  formations  of 
our  present  dry  lands,  we  shall  be  considerably  over-rating 
their  actual  extent.     We  know  that  the  most  lofty  peaks 

tides  in  the  form  of  a  powder,  but  of  irregular  grain,  we  naturally 
shake  it  with  a  lateral  motion,  when  the  different  sizes  and  weights 
of  the  particles  become  arranged ;  the  finer  always  being  found  at 
the  bottom.  Every  sportsman  must  be  familiar  with  this  law  of 
gi-avity,  as  it  is  well  demonstrated  in  the  accidental  mixtures  of 
both  powder  and  shot  of  different  grains,  which  it  is  often  necessary 
to  separate. 


GEOLOGY  OF  SCRIPTURE.  109 

are  not  more  than  five  miles  in  height,  and  we  have  good  rea- 
son to  presume,  that  the  greatest  depths  of  the  ocean  are  not 
widely  different  in  extent.  Now,  in  the  four  thousand  years 
that  have  taken  place  since  the  deluge,  during  which  a  fresh 
series  of  secondary  formations  has  been  going  on  in  the  post- 
diluvian ocean,  we  must  conclude  that  a  much  greater  change 
has  taken  place  than  could  have  occurred  in  the  sixteen 
centuries  previous  to  that  event ;  and  yet  we  cannot  discover 
changes  to  have  taken  place  either  on  the  lands,  or  in  any 
part  of  the  ocean,  to  lead  us  to  the  conclusion  that  formations 
to  such  an  extent  have  occurred,  even  during  this  longer  pe- 
riod. How  then  can  we  subscribe  to  those  theories  of  phi- 
losophy, which  attribute  immense  periods  to  the  formation  of 
each  stratum,  and  which  would  imply,  from  a  view  of  a  few 
hundred  feet  of  diluvial  stratification,  in  such  a  chalk  basin 
as  that  of  Paris,  a  succession  of  revolutions,  and  of  salt  and 
fresh  water  deluges^  occurring  during  an  unnameable  lapse  of 
timel 

Amongst  the  remarkable  secondary  formations  of  our  Eu- 
ropean continents,  there  are  few  more  worthy  of  our  attention 
than  the  celebrated  rock  of  Gibraltar,  in  which  we  find  pre- 
sented to  our  consideration  a  close  connexion  between  diluvi- 
al animal  remains,  and  the  extensive  fissures  and  cavities  with 
which  that  rock  has  become  intersected. 

This  mountain  is  completely  isolated ;  having  the  sea  on 
three  sides,  and,  on  the  fourth,  a  low  sandy  plain  or  isthmus, 
of  several  miles  in  length,  and  about  900  yards  in  width  near 
the  rock,  though  its  breadth  increases  towards  the  Spanish 
continent ;  whilst  its  greatest  elevation,  above  the  level  of 
the  sea,  is  not  more  than  about  ten  feet. 

The  rock  of  Gibraltar  is  of  an  oblong  form,  and  lies  in  the 
direction  of  north  and  south.  The  craggy  ridge  of  which  its 
summit  is  formed,  is  somewhat  higher  at  the  two  extremities 
than  in  the  centre.  The  whole  rock  is  about  seven  miles  in 
circumference,  and  forms  a  promontory  of  about  three  miles 
in  length.  Its  breadth  varies  according  to  the  indentations 
of  the  shore,  but  it  no  where  exceeds  three  quarters  of  a  mile. 
The  most  elevated  point  of  this  promontory  towards  the  south, 
is  called  the  Sugar  Loaf,  and  is  about  1440  feet  above  the 
sea ;  that  towards  the  north  is  called  the  Rock  Mortar,  and  is 
1350  feet  high ;  the  signal  house,  which  is  nearly  in  the 
centre,  is  1280  feet  above  the  level  of  the  sea. 

The  mountain  of  Gibraltar  consists  of  a  reddish-gray  cal- 
K  2 


110  GEOLOGY  or  SCRIPTURE. 

careous  rock,  in  regular  strata,  which  may  be  examined  with 
great  accuracy  in  the  north  front,  where  there  is  a  complete 
section  of  upwards  of  1300  feet  of  perpendicular  height.  The 
strata  are  from  20  to  50  feet  in  thickness;  and  the  whole 
mass  is  cavernous,  presenting  some  of  the  most  remarkable 
caves,  adorned  with  magnificent  stalactites. 

I  have  been  favoured  with  the  perusal  of  a  MS.  account  of 
the  celebrated  cave  of  St.  Michael,  in  the  rock  of  Gibraltar ; 
and  with  the  kind  permission  of  its  author,  I  cannot  hesitate 
in  presenting  it  to  my  readers,  as  it  will  serve  to  give  a  very 
just  idea  of  the  numerous  similar  instances  of  lime-stone 
caverns,  which  are  to  be  found  in  so  many  other  parts  of  the 
world. 

The  following  extract  is  from  a  MS.  journal  kept  by  Cap- 
tain Martin,  while  in  the  command  of  the  late  sir  William 
Curtis'  yacht,  the  Emma,  on  a  pleasure  cruise  to  the  Medi- 
terranean, in  1823  and  1824.* 

"  Having  determined  to  explore  St.  Michael's  cavern,  I 
took  ashore  part  of  the  crew,  with  a  supply  of  signal  lanterns, 
lines,  Roman  candles  and  blue  lights  :  and  Captain  Paterson, 
an  officer  of  the  garrison,  who  had  before  made  the  excursion, 
joined  our  party,  and  was  a  great  acquisition.  We  landed 
at  the  dock-yard,  and  immediately  commenced  our  march  to- 
wards the  summit  of  the  mountain.  In  about  three-quarters 
of  an  hour  we  reached  the  stone  platform  in  front  of  the 
cavern,  which  forms  an  esplanade  for  artillery. 

"  From  this  platform  we  overlooked  the  extraordinary  line 
of  fortifications,  together  with  the  villas  and  gardens,  the 
town,  the  parade,  the  mole,  the  shipping  at  anchor  in  the 
bay,  the  city  of  Algesiraz,  La  Roche,  and  the  distant  moun- 
tains, the  Ape's  hill  on  the  coast  of  I3arbary,  and  the  whole 
line  of  the  two  bold  shores  forming  the  straits,  along  to 
Ceuta ;  these  objects,  together  with  the  deep  blue  pass, 
studded  with  white  sails,  completed  the  bird's-eye  view, 
and  formed  one  of  the  most  splendid  pictures  that  can  possi- 
bly be  imagined. 

"  We  now  commenced  our  descent  into  the  cavern ;  and 
having  proceeded  about  a  hundred  yards  we  halted  to  look 
about  us.     The  roof  of  this  apartment  is  supported  in  the 

*  Should  the  author  of  this  interesting-  MS.  ever  be  induced'  to 
ofFer  it  to  the  public,  it  will  exhibit  the  workings  of  a  poetic  mind 
and  a  graphic  pen,  such  as  have  seldom  appeared  in  our  naval  annals. 


GEOLOGY  OF  SCRIPTURE.  Ill 

midst  of  a  stupendous  pillar  of  stalactite  irregularly  fluted. 
The  water,  clear  as  crystal,  but  loaded  with  calcareous  mat- 
ter, was  seen  dropping-  from  various  parts,  and  exhibited  the 
manner  of  tliis  continual,  but  gradual  formation,  as,  wherever 
it  fell,  a  round  knob  of  stony  matter  was  upon  the  increase, 
instead  of  the  hollow  which  would  have  been  produced,  had 
the  rock  from  which  it  falls,  been  of  the  sand  stone  formation. 

"The  rays  of  light  from  the  cavern's  mouth,  fall  on  a 
number  of  broken  crags,  and  detached  parts  of  pillars,  plainly 
indicating  their  having  experienced  some  severe  shock  as  of 
an  earthquake,  as  the  points  from  which  they  have  been  shat- 
tered are  distinctly  visible. 

"  We  now  followed  Captain  Paterson  into  the  second 
cavern,  which  was  larger  than  the  one  just  described  ;  and  I 
here  lighted  a  Roman  candle,  which  brought  into  view  two 
most  beautiful  arches,  the  columns  of  which  much  resembled 
the  pipes  of  an  organ.  Through  the  termination  of  one  of  these 
arches  an  aperture  presented  itself;  and  having  made  fast  the 
end  of  a  line,  and  left  one  of  the  crew  at  the  entrance,  we 
proceeded  on  our  hands  and  knees,  extending  our  line  as  a 
clue  to  our  return.  We  thus  crawled  along  a  very  considera- 
ble distance,  till  we  found  ourselves  once  more  in  an  open 
space,  but  in  darkness  so  thick  that  the  rays  of  our  lantern 
extended  but  a  very  short  way,  and  above  our  heads  was  a 
void  of  indefinite  extent.  As  we  now  stood  in  a  groupe, 
afraid  of  venturing  further,  or  of  being  precipitated  into  some 
horrible  abyss,  I  suddenly  lighted  one  of  our  blue  lights, 
when  the  whole  dome  of  this  magnificent  cavern  burst  at 
once  upon  our  sight,  tinged  with  the  sulphureous  hue  of  the 
brilliant  flambeau  I  held  in  my  hand.  Pillar  upon  pillar, 
supporting  mimic  galleries,  arch  upon  arch  rising  in  Gothic 
elegance,  seemed  as  if  the  sudden  work  of  a  magic  spell,  and 
sparkling  with  crystal  and  stalactite  far  beyond  our  reach." 

(Simulaverat  artem 
Ingenio  natui'O  sue  :  nam  pumice  vivo 
Et  levibus  tophis  nativum  duxerat  ai'cum.) 

"A  few  feet  from  us  was  a  well-like  aperture,  which  Cap- 
tain Paterson  now  invited  me  to  descend  by  the  aid  of  a  rope ; 
but  this  I  thought  it  prudent  to  decline,  satisfied  with  the 
magnificent  scene  before  me.  That  gentleman  had,  however, 
formerly  explored  this  cavity ;  an^  he  described  it  as  being 
about  50  feet  deep,  and  terminating  in  a  range  of  caverns 


112  GEOLOGY  OF  SCRIPTURE. 

similar  to  the  one  in  which  we  then  stood ;  and  beyond  these 
were  other  descents  which  never  yet  have  been  explored. 

"  We  now  retraced  our  steps,  highly  gratified  with  what 
we  had  seen ;  and  as  we  emerged  once  more  into  the  light  of 
day,  our  agreeable  sensations  were  much  increased  by  the 
exhilarating*  contrast.  Upon  looking  upwards  towards  the 
summit  of  the  rock,  I  perceived  the  smoke  which  our  flam- 
beaux had  occasioned,  issuing  out  from  among  the  shrubs; 
and  being  led  by  curiosity  to  climb  up  to  the  spot,  we  found 
a  fissure  in  the  rock,  which,  no  doubt,  communicated  with 
those  remarkable  labyrinths,  and  through  which  aperture  the 
currents  of  air  were  now  clearing  away  the  smoke  produced 
by  our  lights. 

"  What  a  wonderful  natural  monument  of  former  events  is 
this  extraordinary  rock !  A  pyramid  of  huge  stony  strata 
completely  honey-combed  with  caverns  of  this  description. 
Its  inaccessible  and  perpendicular  face  to  the  eastward,  com- 
monly called  its  Levant  side,  is  perforated  with  innumerable 
fissures,  opening,  no  doubt,  into  its  interior  recesses,  and 
forming  the  habitation  of  swarms  of  apes  and  sea-fowl;  while 
to  the  northward  it  is  completely  isolated  from  the  main  land 
by  a  long  extent  of  sand,  called  the  neutral  ground. 

"  The  view  which  we  also  had  of  this  remarkable  rock  from 
the  sea,  was  in  the  highest  degree  imposing.  The  swell  of 
the  waves  rolling  against  its  base,  and  rushing  into  its  dark 
caverns,  produced  a  melancholy  sound  ;  and  I  amused  myself 
as  we  passed  close  in  shore,  in  prying  with  my  telescope  into 
the  mouths  of  these  gaping  chasms^  within  which  I  should 
suppose  a  boat  could  seldom  enter,  as  the  restless  waters  are 
agitated  by  the  slightest  breeze." 

From  the  consideration  of  the  mountains  and  the  hills,  in 
both  of  which  we  find  strong  corroborative  evidence  in  sup- 
port of  what  has  been  advanced,  we  now  descend  to  the  plains 
of  the  earth;  and  we  there  find,  as  might  naturally  be  ex- 
pected, so  many  additional  traces  of  a  former  ocean,  that 
every  shadow  of  doubt  ought  to  be  removed  from  an  unpre- 
judiced mind.  We  have  before  remarked,  that  by  far  the 
greater  proportion  of  the  present  dry  land  consists  of  plains 
but  little  elevated  above  the  present  level  of  the  sea.  W^e 
find  no  exception,  in  this  particular,  in  any  of  the  continents 
into  which  geographers  have  divided  the  earth ;  but  in  order 
to  form  a  better  idea  of  this  part  of  our  subject,  we  may  refer 
to  the  descriptions  given  us  by  some  of  the  most  enlightened 


GEOLOGY  OF  SCRIPTURE.  113 

travellers  of  those  seas  of  land,  as  they  have  sometimes  been 
called. 

Humboldt  has  given  us,  in  his  valuable  book  of  travels, 
so  interesting  an  account  of  the  great  plains  of  South  America, 
that  I  shall  here  lay  it  before  my  readers  : 

"  In  the  Mesa  de  Paja,"  says  he,  "  in  the  ninth  degree  of 
south  latitude,  we  entered  the  basin  of  Llanos.  The  sun  was 
almost  at  the  zenith ;  the  earth,  wherever  it  appeared,  was 
sterile  and  destitute  of  vegetation.  Not  a  breath  of  air  was 
felt  at  the  height  we  sat  upon  our  mules ;  yet,  in  the  midst 
of  this  apparent  calm,  whirls  of  dust  incessantly  arose,  driven 
on  by  the  small  currents  of  air  that  glide  only  over  the  surface 
of  the  ground,  and  are  occasioned  by  difference  of  temperature, 
which  the  naked  sands  and  the  spots  covered  with  herbs,  ac- 
quire. These  sand  winds  augment  the  suffocating  heat  of  the 
air;  every  grain  of  quartz,  hotter  than  the  surrounding  air,  radi- 
ating heat  in  every  direction.  All  around  us  the  plains  seemed 
to  ascend  towards  the  sky,  and  that  vast  and  profound  solitude 
appeared  to  our  eyes  like  an  ocean  covered  with  sea  weeds. 
Through  a  dry  fog,  and  the  strata  of  vapours,  palm-trees 
were  seen  from  afar,  the  stems  of  which,  stripped  of  their 
foliage,  but  with  verdant  tops,  appeared  like  7nasts  of  ships 
discovered  in  the  horizon. 

"  There  is  something  awful,  but  sad  and  gloomy,  in  the 
uniform  aspect  of  these  steppes.  I  know  not  whether  the 
first  aspect  of  them  excites  less  astonishment  than  that  of 
the  chain  of  the  Andes  itself. 

"  Mountainous  countries,  of  whatever  variety  of  height, 
have  always  an  analogous  physiognomy;  but  we  accustom 
ourselves,  with  difficulty,  to  the  view  of  the  Llanos  of  Vene- 
zuela and  Casanary,  and  to  that  of  the  Pampas  of  Buenos  Ayres 
and  of  Chaco,  which  recall  to  the  mind  incessantly,  and  dur- 
ing journeys  of  twenty  or  thirty  days  successively,  the  smooth 
surface  of  the  ocean.  I  had  seen  the  plains  or  Llanos  of  La 
Mancha,  in  Spain,  and  the  heath  lands  that  extend  from  the 
extremity  of  Jutland,  through  Luneburg  and  Westphalia  to 
Belgium.  These  last  are  real  steppes,  of  which  man,  during 
many  ages,  has  been  able  to  subject  only  small  portions  to 
cultivation.  But  the  immense  plains  of  South  America  are 
but  feebly  represented  by  those  of  the  north  and  west  of 
Europe. 

*'The  course  of  the  rivers  in  these  vast  plains,  all  branches 
of  the  Oroonoko,  had  once  led  me  to  think  that  they  formed 


114  GEOLOGV  OF  SCRIPTURE. 

tablelands^  raised  at  least  100  or  150  fathoms  above  the  level 
of  the  ocean.  I  supposed,  in  like  manner,  that  the  deserts  of 
interior  Africa  were  also  at  a  considerable  height,  and  that 
they  arose  one  above  another,  like  stages,  from  the  coast  to 
the  interior  of  the  continent.  With  regard  to  the  Llanos  of 
South  America,  however,  I  found,  by  barometical  measure- 
ments at  various  points,  that  their  height  is  only  from  40  to  50 
fathoms  above  the  level  of  the  sea.  The  fall  of  the  rivers  is  so 
gentle,  that  it  is  often  imperceptible;  so  that  the  smallest 
swell  of  the  Oroonoko  causes  a  reflux  in  those  rivers  of  the 
plains  which  run  into  it. 

"  The  chief  characteristic  of  the  savanahs,  or  steppes  of 
South  America,  is  the  absolute  want  of  hills  and  inequalities, 
and  the  perfect  level  of  every  part  of  the  soil.  This  resem- 
blance to  the  surface  of  the  ocean  strikes  the  imagination  most 
powerfully,  where  the  plains  are  altogether  destitute  of  palm 
trees,  and  where  the  mountains  of  the  shore  and  of  the  Oroo- 
noko, are  so  far  distant  that  they  cannot  be  seen.  This 
equality  of  the  surface  reigns,  without  interruption,  from  the 
mouths  of  the  Oroonoko  to  Ospinos,  under  a  parallel  of  180 
leagues  in  length  (540  miles),  and  from  San  Carlos  to  tbe 
savanahs  of  Caqueta,  on  a  meridian  of  200  leagues,  or  600 
miles.  The  planters  who  inhabit  the  southern  declivity  of 
the  chain  of  the  coast,  look  down  upon  the  steppes,  which 
extend  towards  the  south  as  far  as  the  eye  can  reach,  like  an 
ocean  of  verdure.  They  know  that  they  can  traverse  the 
plains  for  380  leagues,  (or  for  1140  miles),  to  the  very  foot 
of  the  Andes  of  Paste !" 

The  generally  low  level  of  North  America  is  scarcely  less 
remarkable  than  that  of  the  South ;  but  that  country  is  so 
much  more  broken  and  irregular  in  the  line  of  its  sea  coast, 
and  so  much  indented  by  gulfs  and  inland  lakes,  that  the 
plains  are  no  where  of  such  vast  extent.  However,  the 
generally  level  state  of  that  country  is  shown  by  the  naviga- 
ble rivers  with  which  it  is  every  where  intersected,  and  from 
which  the  greatest  riches  of  North  America  are  derived. 

In  the  extensive  low  plains  of  Carolina,  marks  of  the  for- 
mer  occupation  of  the  sea  are  every  where  displayed.  Ex- 
tensive beds  of  oyster-shells  are  found  at  considerable  depths, 
alternating  with  strata  of  blue  clay  ,<  and  the  bones  of  mon- 
strous animals  are  often  discovered  in  cutting  canals ;  these 
are  the  remains  of  the  mastodon,  and  the  mammoth,  found  iu 
so  many  other  parts  of  the  world  in  similar  situations. 


GEOLOGY  OF  SCPaPTURE.  115 

From  tlie  new  world  we  tarn  our  eyes  to  the  deserts  and 
sands  of  Africa,  of  an  extent  and  character  not  less  remarka- 
ble. They  have  been  described  by  Bruce,  Park,  and  other 
travellers.  Pure  sea  sand  is  there  the  prevailintr  soil,  (if  it 
deserve  the  name:)  and  though  their  elevation,  above  the  sea, 
has  not  been  so  accurately  measured  as  those  of  Europe,  or 
of  Asia,  we  may  yet  judge,  from  the  currents  of  the  Nile, 
and  other  rivers  of  Africa,  flowing  from  the  interior,  that  that 
continent  is  not,  generally,  of  greater  elevation  than  that  of 
America,  being  crossed,  however,  by  ridges,  of  very  consid- 
erable height,  in  various  directions. 

M.  Caillie,  the  enterprising  French  traveller,  who,  in  1824 
and  1825,  succeeded  in  penetrating  to  Timbuctoo,  and  was 
the  first  European  who  has  ever  returned  to  give  us  a  distinct 
idea  of  that  mysterious  city,  has  thus  described  the  desert  of 
Satiara,  which  description  will  be  found  intimately  connected 
with  our  present  subject. 

"A  boundless  horiz-on,"  says  he,  "expands  before  me; 
and  we  can  distinguish  buta?z  enormous  plain  of  shining  sand, 
and,  over  it,  a  burning  sun.  We  come  occasionally  to  deep 
wells,  full  of  brackish  water.  At  a  depth  of  four  feet  from 
the  surface  is  found  a  gray  sand,  mixed  with  a  little  clay  of 
the  same  colour.  At  the  bottom  of  these  wells  there  is  often 
found  a  white  kind  of  earth,  resembling  c/^c/Zi:,  and  mixed,  oc- 
casionally, with  some  black  or  gray  rounded  pebbles.  As  far 
as  the  eye  can  reach  there  is  no  trace  of  vegetation  ;  for 
hours  in  succession  we  did  not  see  one  blade  of  grass.  The 
plains  had  the  precise  appearance  of  the  ocean;  perhaps,  such 
as  the  bed  of  the  sea  icould  have,  if  left  dry  by  the  waters.  In 
fact,  the  winds  form  in  the  sand  undulating  furrows,  like  the 
waves  of  the  sea,  when  a  breeze  slightly  ruffles  its  surface. 

*'  At  the  sight  of  this  dismal  spectacle,  of  this  dreadful 
and  awful  abandonment  and  nakedness,  I  forgot,  for  a  moment, 
all  my  hardships,  to  reflect  upon  the  violent  convulsions 
which  appeared  to  have  dried  up  part  of  the  ocean,  and  upon 
the  catastrophes  which  have  thus  changed  the  face  of  our  globe.'''' 

This  traveller  states,  that  the  trade  of  Timbuctoo,  and,  in 
great  part,  of  all  the  interior  of  Africa,  consists  of  salt,  from 
the  mines  of  Tondeyni  and  of  Waden. 

In  Asia,  we  are  equally  struck  with  the  great  plains  of 
China  and  Hindostan,  which  are  of  immense  extent;  but, 
from  their  richer  soils,  they  constitute,  in  point  of  fertility, 
the  most  productive  portion  of  the  habitable  globe.     Some 


116  GEOLOGY  OF  SCRIPTUHE. 

parts  even  of  these,  however,  being  composed  of  sand^  or  of 
indurated  clay^  are  also  completoly  barren :  and  the  plains  of 
the  Cambul  territory,  extending  four  hundred  miles  in  length, 
are  of  this  desert  description.  The  great  salt  desert  of  Per- 
sia stretches  over  an  extent  of  about  500  miles,  and  is  com- 
posed of  a  reddish  sand,  so  fine  as  scarcely  to  be  perceptible, 
and  producing  nothing  but  a  few  saline  and  succulent  plants. 

Arabia  contains  deserts  of  not  less  extent,  composed  of 
barren  sands  impregnated  with  sea  salt,  and  totally  destitute  of 
rivers.*  The  very  low  level  of  these  deserts,  would  cause 
them  to  be  again  inundated  by  the  sea,  by  a  very  slight  rise 
in  its  waters.  The  sub-soil,  like  that  of  most  deserts,  is  a 
grayish  clay,  with  a  large  proportion  of  sand,  and  containing 
marine  exuviae. 

We  find  the  following  descriptions  of  the  plains  of  Meso- 
potamia, in  Buckingham's  travels  in  that  country.  "The  as- 
pect of  the  country  was  dull  and  uninteresting;  as  there  was 
neither  mountain,  valley,  nor  even  plain  •  the  whole  being  an 
unequal  surface,  like  the  high  and  long  waves  of  a  deep  sea, 
when  subsiding  from  a  tempest  into  a  calm  :  not  a  tree  was 
any  where  in  sight  to  relieve  the  monotony  of  the  scene." 
The  description  of  these  plains  by  Xenophon,  in  his  .Anabasis, 
2200  years  ago,  is  strikingly  correct.  "  The  country,"  says 
he,  "  was  a  plain  throughout,  as  even  as  the  sea,  and  full  of 
worm-wood  :  if  any  other  kind  of  shrubs  or  reeds  grew  there, 
they  had  all  an  aromatic  smell :  but  no  trees  appeared.  Of 
wild  creatures,  the  most  numerous  were  wild  asses,  and  nof  a 
few  ostriches,  besides  bustards  and  roe-deer  (or  antelopes) 
which  our  horsemen  sometimes  chased. "f 

Mr.  Buckingham,  in  another  place,  proceeds  :  "  The  peo- 
ple here  have  a  particular  and  characteristic  name  for  the  des- 
ert, similar  to  that  which  we  use  for  the  wide  expanse  of 

*  The  camel  is  emphatically  called  by  the  Arabians  the  Ship  of  the 
Desei^t. 

tin  considering  the  diluvial  nature  of  this  portion  of  the  world, 
in  which  the  Paradise  of  our  first  parents  is  described  to  have  been, 
it  must  be  obvious  to  every  one,  that  no  such  local  descriptions  of 
Paradise,  as  is  found  in  our  translations  of  the  Book  of  Genesis, 
can  consist  with  tlie  total  destruction  of  the  antediluvian  earth,  and 
with  our  now  inhabiting  the  bed  of  the  antediluvian  sea.  That  the 
discussion  of  this  question  may  not  now  interrupt  the  general  line  of 
our  subject,  in  this  place,  it  may  be  satisfactory  to  the  reader  to  know, 
that  so  great  an  inconsistency  is  not  left  unexplained,  hut  that  the 
l4th  Chapter  is  entirely  occupied  by  it. 


GEOLOGY  OF  SCRIPTURE.  117 

the  ocean,  when  we  call  it  the  open  sea.  In  these  extensive 
plains,  minnte  objects  are  seen  at  quite  as  great  a  distance 
as  on  the  ocean ;  and  the  smallest  eminences  are  dis- 
covered by  deorrees,  just  as  islands  and  capes  are  at  sea,  first 
showing  their  tops,  and  then  raising  them  gradually  above  the 
horizon,  till  their  bases  appear  on  a  level  wdth  the  observer. 
The  bearings  and  distances  of  vrells  are  noted  and  remember- 
ed from  such  objects ;  and  they  are  seen  by  caravans,  slowly 
crossing  the  great  desert,  for  many  days  in  succession,  as 
they  approach  to,  or  recede  from  them."* — Buckingham's 
Travels^  vol.  i.  p.  237. 

In  Europe,  the  most  extensive  plains  are  in  Hungary,  be- 
tween the  Danube  and  the  Theiss.  These  plains  have  been 
computed  by  Humboldt  to  be  about  3000  square  leagues ;  and 
the  line  of  division  constituting  the  ridge  between  these 
two  rivers,  has  been  ascertained  by  accurate  survey  to  he  only 
13  toises  (or  78  feet)  above  the  level  of  the  Danube.  Thus,  it  is 
plain,  that  a  rise  of  from  200  to  300  feet  in  the  waters  of  the 
Mediterranean,  would  overflow  all  the  steppes  of  Russia, 
and  connect  that  sea  with  the  Baltic.  The  extensive  penin- 
sula of  the  Crimea,  is  in  great  part  occupied  hy  a  vast  undu- 
lating plain,  or  steppe,  without  wood,  and  mostly  composed  of 
sand,  more  or  less  mixed  with  clay.  This  plain  abounds  in 
salt  lakes  and  marshes,  from  which  salt  is  obtained  during  the 
dry  season,  for  the  supply  of  a  great  extent  of  country,  and 
all  the  shores  of  the  Euxine.  Petrifactions,  and  marine 
exuvias,  are  every  where  found  in  great  abundance.  The  salt 
mines  of  Armenia  have  also  long  been  celebrated. 

If  we  turn  our  view  nearer  to  our  own  shores,  and  contem- 
plate the  level  plains  of  rich  cultivation  occupying  almost  the 
whole  of  Russia,  Poland,  Germany,   France,f  and  Holland, 

*  ''Travelling  in  Mesopotamia  seems,  even  in  the  eai-liest  ages  of 
which  we  have  any  records,  to  have  been  little  less  dangerous  than  at 
present.  Josephus,  in  his  Jewish  Aiitiqidties,  in  relating  that  part  of 
the  history  of  Abraham,  when  he  sent  his  chief  servant  from  Canaan 
to  Haran,  to  betroth  a  v/ife  for  his  son  Isaac,  says  :  '  it  was  a  consid- 
erable time  before  the  servant  got  thither  ;  for  it  requires  much 
time  to  pass  through  Mesopotamia,  where  it  is  tedious  travelling  in 
winter,  from  the  depth  of  the  clay,  and  in  summer,  from  the  want 
of  water  ;  and,  besides,  it  is  dangerous,  on  account  of  the  robberies 
there  committed,  which  are  not  to  be  avoided  by  travellers,  except 
by  caution  before-hand.'  " 

t  The  enormous  collections  of  sea  shells  that  exist  in  France,  in 
Touraine,  and  at  Grignon,  have  always  attracted  much  attention. 
I. 


118  GEOLOGY  OF  SCRIPTURE. 

we  shall  be  satisfied  of  the  correctness  of  the  statement  with 
which  we  set  out ;  that  the  appearances  which  present  them- 
selves on  the  plains  of  every  quarter  of  the  globe,  prove  be- 
yond a  doubt,  that  they  have,  at  no  very  distant  period,  form- 
ed a  part  of  the  bed  of  the  ocean  ;  and  that  a  change  of  a  very 
few  hundred  feet,  in  the  comparative  level  of  the  present  sea 
and  land,  would  once  more  destroy  by  far  the  greater  propor- 
tion of  the  habitable  parts  of  the  globe.  We  are  not,  how- 
ever, from  hence  to  imply  that  the  mode  by  which  the  delug-e 
was  effected,  was  less  the  agency  of  a  supernatural  power. 
We  are  only  to  guard  ourselves  against  the  ideas  of  some  the- 
orists, who,  in  treating  of  this  great  revolution,  lose  sight  of 
the  comparative  extent  of  the  whole  glohe,  and  of  its  aqueous 
covering ;  and  who  think  it  necessary  to  break  up  the  solid 
sphere  of  8000  miles  in  diameter,  in  order  to  produce  the 
means  of  immersing  a  few  thousand  feet  of  its  surface. 

We  shall  find,  that  the  more  we  study  geology  and  min- 
eralogy, on  an  enlarged  scale,  and  under  the  impression  of  the 
historical  view,  which  informs  us  not  only  that  the  old  earth 
was  to  disappear^  but  that  it  actually  did  become  overwhelmed 
hy  a  flood  of  waters^  and  that  we  are  consequently  now  inhabit- 
ing a  new  earthy  the  very  nature  of  which  assures  us,  without 
the  evidence  of  history,  that  it  formerly  was  the  bed  of  the 
ocean  ;  the  more  easily  we  shall  be  enabled  to  account,  in  a 
natural  manner,  for  the  secondary  formations  and  effects,  now 
every  where  presented  to  our  view.  When  we  have  once  ad- 
mitted that  the  primitive  rocks  were  created  without  any  con- 
nexion or  assistance  from  the  sea,  of  which  they  bear  no 
marks  ;  that  the  depression  for  the  "  gathering  together  of  the 
waters"  must  naturally  have  given  rise  to  the  earliest  second- 
ary formations,  in  which  no  fossil  remains  are  found  ;  that  in 
the  course  of  upwards  of  sixteen  centuries,  many  strata  of  a 
sandy  and  calcareous  nature  must  naturally  have  been  form- 
ed, with  which  the  entire  bed  of  the  antediluvian  ocean  must 
have  been  encased  ;  and  forming  heights  and  hollows  of  an 
easy  and  rounded  form,  as  at  the  present  day ;  and  that  at  this 
particular  period  of  the  world,  an  interchange  was  to  take 
place  between  the  level  of  the  old  sea  and  of  the  old  land^ 

In  the  former  instance  there  are  said  to  be  about  nine  square  leagues, 
with  a  depth  of  about  18  feet,  the  whole  consisting,  almost  entirely, 
of  fossil  shells.  It  is  also  said,  that  at  Grignon,  upwards  of  600  spe- 
cies have  been  discovered. 


GEOLOGY  OF  SCRIPTURE.  119 

by  which  preternatural  operation,  ordained  for  an  especial 
purpose  by  the  great  ruler  of  the  universe,  these  secondary 
heights  and  hollows  were  to  become  visible ;  from  the  mo- 
ment we  take  this  view  of  the  subject,  every  thing  on  the 
earth  becomes  consistent,  which  was  before  confused,  and  in 
darkness  :  we  can  trace  in  our  minds,  the  whole  operation  of 
mineral  secondary  formations,  although  we  cannot  be  expect- 
ed, always,  to  account  for  the  various  characters  impressed 
upon  different  rocks,  in  the  course  of  passing  under  the  in- 
fluence of  the  chemical  processes  of  nature.  When  we  thus 
acknowledge  the  period  dind  the  ?node  of  the  deluge,  we  have 
only  then  to  discover,  in  our  present  rocks,  what  the  particu- 
lar formations  were,  which  formed  the  actual  bed  of  the  sea, 
at  that  destructive  period.  When  we  have  been  enabled  to  do 
this,  as  we  often  can  do  most  distinctly,  (as,  for  instance,  in 
the  chalk  basins  of  geologists,)  we  may  be  satisfied,  that 
every  thing  we  find  above  them,  is  the  result  of  the  action  of 
the  deluge,  in  the  slow  and  gradual  progress  of  which,  during 
one  whole  year,  the  sea  would  continue  to  arrange  and  deposit 
the  substances  of  every  kind  submitted  to  its  action,  in  the 
same  manner  as  at  other  times,  only  to  a  prodigiously  greater 
extent,  from  the  preternatural  supply  of  the  whole  movable 
soils  and  productions  of  the  antediluvian  continents.*  Nor 
must  we  permit  our  minds  to  be  misled  by  the  depth  and  ex- 
tent to  which  these  diluvial  formations  are  frequently  found. 
For  though  in  our  low  lands  we  often  cannot  penetrate  the  to- 
tal depth  to  which  they  extend ;  yet  we  must  keep  in  mind, 
on  the  other  hand,  that,  on  our  higher  grounds,  the  rocks,  in 
numberless  instances,  present  at  once  the  secondary  forma- 
tions which  formed  the  bed  of  the  sea  at  the  deluge :  and, 
consequently,  that  the  whole  movable  soils  of  the  old  world 
are  accumulated  deeply  in  the  hollows^  or  spread  more  thinly 
over  the  plains  of  the  new.  As  a  familiar  instance  of  this  ar- 
rangement, we  may  take  the  chalk  formation  of  the  south  of 
our  own  country,  and  of  the  north  of  France,  which  broad  ex- 
tent of  country,  though  now  intersected  by  the  channel,  is  ob- 
viously one  great  continuous  secondary  formation  of  the  ante- 
diluvian sea,  presenting  a  rounded  and  varied  outline,  with- 
out any  naturally  abrupt  form. 

^  "  The  bones  of  quadi-upeds,  already  mentioned,  are  never  found  in 
the  strata  below  the  chalk,  but  always  in  the  clay  over  the  chalk,"  ^ 
Edin.  Encydop.  England,  713. 


120  GEOLOGY  OF  SCRIPTURE. 

Let  us  then  consider  this  great  extent  of  chalk,  (which,  in 
France  alone,  is  calculated  at  16  millions  of  acres,)  at  the 
period  of  the  deluge,  when,  as  has  been  above  explained,  the 
interchange  of  level  was  to  take  place,  either  by  the  depres- 
sion of  the  old  lands,  the  elevation  of  the  foundations  of  the 
old  seas,  or,  perhaps,  by  the  action  of  both  these  eifects. 
This  chalky  accumulation  of  many  centuries,  continued  below 
the  surface  during  the  early  period  of  the  deluge,  the  waters 
of  which,  turbid  as  they  naturally  must  have  been,  deposited 
more  or  less  of  the  new  soils,  over  every  part  of  it,  both  high 
and  low,  but,  probably,  to  a  greater  depth  in  the  hollows  ;  the 
finer  particles  sunk,  as  usual,  to  the  bottom  ;  the  grosser  were 
moved  about  by  the  currents  on  the  upper  parts  of  these  new 
formations,  as  they  were  deposited  ;  the  depression  of  the 
old  continents  gradually  continued  ;  until  we  at  length  arrive 
at  a  period  of  this  interchange,  when  the  tops  of  the  round 
heights,  in  the  chalk  formation,  came  gradually  to  the  surface 
of  the  waters,  and  were  washed  over  by  the  waves.  The 
operation  proceeds ;  they  gradually  become  more  and  more 
elevated  above  the  level  o|  the  waters,  which,  as  they  sink, 
wash  off  any  of  the  new  soils  which  might  have  been  de- 
posited on  the  heights,  and  carry  them  again  into  the  gulfs, 
to  undergo  a  fresh  deposit  in  a  lower  level.  The  tops  and 
sides  of  the  chalky  elevations  were  then  left  nearly  hare^  usvie 
710W  find  them  ;  while  the  whole  movable  matter  of  the  diluvial 
waters  became  deposited  in  the  basins  or  hollows.  In  tracing 
the  sections  of  the  chalk,  which  are  visible  on  the  sea  coasts, 
we  often  discover  such  hollows  similarly  filled  up  ;*  and  we 

*  There  is  an  interesting  section  of  a  somewhat  similar  basin,  pre- 
sented to  our  view,  on  our  own  shoi-es.  On  the  coast  of  Kent,  the 
chalk  cliffs  of  tlie  Isle  of  Thanet  dip  beneath  the  diluvial  deposits 
about  half  a  mile  Avest  from  Pegvvell,  and  they  do  not  appear  again 
upon  the  coast  till  a  little  way  beyond  Deal,  in  tlie  neighbourhood  of 
Walmer  Castle.  The  borough  of  Sandwich  stands  in  the  centre  of 
this  diluvial  section  of  a  basin  ;  and  a  branch  of  it,  of  a  long,  narrow 
form,  divides  the  Isle  of  Thanet  from  the  main  land,  and  connects 
the  diluvial  formations  of  Sandwich  with  the  Isle  of  Sheppey  and 
the  bed  of  the  Tbames,  where  bones  of  elephants,  and  other  tropical 
productions,  are  constantly  found  in  such  abundance.  The  Avells 
sunk  at  Sandwich,  and  in  other  parts  of  this  plain,  to  the  depth  of 
from  50  to  130  feet,  indicate  many  of  tlie  same  species  of  diluvial 
strata  to  be  found  in  London  and  at  Paris.  Blue  clay,  sand  stone  of 
various  kinds,  and  many  fossils,  in  the  strata  of  clay  and  marl,  in- 
dicate a  succession  very  similar  to  that  found  in  all  such  situiitions. 


GEOLOGY  OF  SCRIPTURIT.  121 

can  have  no  reasonable  doubt,  that  the  extensive  districts  now 
contained  in  the  well-known  basins  of  Paris,  London,  and  the 
Isle  of  Wight,  &c.,  are  precisely  of  the  same  character,  and 
owe  their  formation,  and  their  richness  of  soil,  to  the  very- 
same  cause  and  period. 

If  any  further  proof  of  this  were  required,  we  should  find 
it  in  the  fossil  remains  of  quadrupeds^  birds,  fish,  plants,  and 
shells,  found  in  the  lower  strata  of  the  Paris  basin ;  similar, 
in  many  instances,  to  those  found  in  the  upper  soils  of  the 
earth,  which  latter  are  unanimously  admitted  to  have  been 
lodged  there  by  the  diluvial  waters.* 

A  section  of  this  basin,  (which  has  become  more  remark- 
able than  numberless  similar  basins,  merely  from  its  situation 
near  Paris,  and  its  having  been  so  minutely  scanned  by  the 
distinguished  Cuvier,  whose  theories,  erroneous  as  they  are, 
have  been  founded  upon  the  phenomena  there  displayed), 
presents  a  numerous  succession  of  distinct  strata  of  sand, 
sand-stone,  clay  of  many  sorts  and  colours,  marl,  lime-stone, 
gypsum,  burr-stone,  and  alluvial  earths.  In  all  these  we 
find  no  formation  of  the  same  exact  character,  as  the  older 
sand-stone  formations,  or  chalk,  or  other  calcareous  gradual 
deposits,  which  formed  the  bed  of  the  antediluvian  sea. 

Cuvier  remarks,  that  the  quantity  of  bones  embedded  in 
the  gypseous  strata  of  Paris,  is  such  as  to  be  scarcely  credi- 
ble.    In  some  parts  of  these  strata  there  is  scarcely  a  block 

Nor  can  we  examine  any  great  length  of  coast  where  tlie  chalk  is 
the  prevailing  formation,  without  observing,  in  the  section  presented 
to  our  view,  numerous  smaller  instances  of  hollows  or  valleys  on 
the  old  surface  of  the  chalk,  which  have  been  filled  up  witli  soil,  or 
strata  of  sand  and  gravel  ;  all  of  which  are  to  be  attributed  to  the 
same  diluvial  action  on  a  small  scale.  Several  such  small  basins  may 
be  seen  between  Ramsgate  and  Kingsgate  in  tlie  Isle  of  Thanet,  and 
also  at  the  village  of  Pegwell. 

*  "  We  shall  conclude  om*  account  of  this  basin  (of  Paris)  with 
an  enumeration  of  some  of  the  most  remarkable  organic  remains 
which  have  been  found  in  its  various  sti-ata.  Skeletons  of  unknown 
birds,  elephant's  bones,  fish,  and  fish  skeletons  ;  leaves  and  parts  of 
vegetables  changed  into  silex  :  large  trunks  of  palm  trees  converted 
into  silex  :  skeletons  of  various  quadrupeds  :  tortoise  bones  :  bitu- 
minous wood  ;  and  nearly  throughout  all  the  various  formations, 
oyster-shells." — Ediii.  Eiicyclop.  France,  p.  686. 

The  above  enumei'ation  is  surely  sufficient,  of  itself,  to  demon- 
strate the  deposition  of  so  extraordinary  a  mixtui-e  of  land  and  sea 
productions  at  one  and  the  same  period,  and  by  the  action  of  one 
and  the  same  agent. 
L  2 


122  GEOLOGY  OF  SCRIPTURE. 

that  does  not  inclose  a  bone ;  and  millions  must  have  been 
destroyed,  in  the  course  of  the  old  excavations,  before  these 
objects  began  to  attract  attention.  The  depth  of  the  entire 
basin  has  never  been  ascertained,  but  it  is  calculated  at 
about  500  feet. 

Of  the  numerous  species  of  fossils  found  in  these  various 
strata,  we  need  only  enumerate  a  few  of  the  most  remark- 
able, and  coming  from  the  most  opposite  latitudes,  to  show 
that  this,  and  other  such  hollows,  became  the  general  de- 
posits of  every  sort  of  diluvial  debris,  arranged,  however, 
according  to  the  mode  universally  prevalent,  within  the  injlu- 
ence  of  the  waters  of  the  ocean.  We  find,  then,  a  vast  num- 
ber of  marine  fossil  shells,  of  which  oysters  form  a  prominent 
part.  Some  other  shells,  found  in  a  formation  where  vege- 
table fossils  also  were,  have  been  called  fresh  wafer  shells ; 
and  thus,  the  two  together,  have  given  rise  to  one  part  of 
Cuvier's  theory  of  fresh  water  deposits.*  There  can  be  no- 
thing surprising  in  finding  fresh  water  shells,  even  if  well 
ascertained  to  be  such,  in  an  accumulation  of  so  varied  a 
character;  hnt  their  presence  ^done  cannot  support  tlie  extra- 
ordinary ideas  of  the  above  distinguished  individual :  and, 
besides,  it  is  admitted,  that  the  exact  character  of  such 
shells  is  by  no  means  clear.     We  find,  amongst  many  vege- 

*  "Those  terrestrial  organic  remains  which  may  be  considered 
as  properly  terrene,  are  presumed  to  be  so,  from  tlieir  natm-es,  and 
not  from  their  situations  ;  as  they  are  found  embedded  in  strata  of 
aquatic  origin,  as  well  as  in  alluvial  deposits,  and  occasionally  in 
company  with  aquatic,  in  some  cases,  indeed,  even  witli  marine  re- 
mains.  They  comprise  quadrupeds,  birds,  reptiles,  insects,  and 
plants ;  and  they  bring  us  down  to  the  last  periods  of  tlie  earth's 
change,  which  connect  the  most  ancient  living  beings  with  those 
which  are  actually  in  existence. 

"  Remains  of  quadrupeds  of  various  extinct  genera  or  species, 
together  with  those  of  some  birds  and  reptiles,  are  found  accompa- 
nying fishes  and  shells  in  the  fresh  water  deposits  of  the  Paris  basin. 
These  are  also  accumvdated  in  caverns,  or  fissures,  more  or  less 
entangled  in  earthy  matter.  Under  the  same  head  may  be  also  in- 
cluded the  animals  entangled  in  ice." — Edin.  Encyclop.  Organic 
Memiuns. 

We  here  find,  in  the  able  article,  of  which  the  above  is  an  exti\ict, 
a  distinct  admission  of  analogy  between  all  such  fossils,  wherever 
they  are  found  in  a  mixed  state  :  and  it  may  be,  perhaps,  witli  con- 
fidence concluded,  that  no  fossil,  quadruped,  bird,  or  plant,  has  yet 
been  found,  Avhich  may  not  be  considered  a  deposit  from  the  diluvial 
waters. 


GEOLOGY  OF  SCRIPTURE.  123 

table  fossils,  the  stems  of  palm  trees  in  a  petrified  state. 
Of  large  quadrupeds,  birds,  and  fish,  there  are  many  most 
interesting  specimens  found  in  the  gypsum  formation  ;  and, 
also,  the  bones  of  elephants^  tortoises,  crocodiles,  and  other 
tropical  animals,  similar  in  character,  and  in  species,  to  many 
of  those  fossils  found  in  lime-stone  rocks  in  England,  and 
elsewhere  ;  and  in  the  basin  of  London."* 

We  can,  thus,  have  no  hesitation  in  attributing  similar 
effects  to  similar  causes  all  over  the  world  :  and  if  it  may  be 
safely  laid  down  as  a  general  principle  in  geology,  that  no 
remains  of  terrestrial  animals  or  vegetables  are  to  be  found 
in  formations  previous  to  the  Mosaic  deluge,  it  must  natu- 
rally follow^,  that  all  formations  in  which  such  fossils  are 
now  found,  are  of  diluvial  origin.  We  are,  of  course,  to 
distinguish  between  such  formations,  and  the  animal  and 
vegetable  remains  found  so  abundantly  in  the  more  partial 
deposits  of  marshes  or  lakes,  which  have  taken  place  in  the 
common  course  of  things,  and  are  now  going  on  under  our  eyes. 

We  come  to  the  same  conclusions  in  considering  the  great 
deposits  of  rock  salt  and  of  coal,  in  every  part  of  the  world ; 
on  each  of  which  it  may  be  neces^ry  to  make  some  observa- 
tions :  for  nothing  more  strongly  marks  the  former  presence 
of  the  sea  upon  our  present  lands,  than  the  immense  strata 
of  rock  salt  now  found  in  all  secondary  districts. 

In  England,  beds  of  from  20  to  30  yards  thick,  are  found 
in  Cheshire,  and  in  other  parts.     Spain  possesses  the  cele- 

*  In  the  above  quoted  able  article  on  organic  remains,  in  the 
Edinbm-gh  Encyclopsedia,  amidst  the  general  obscurity  which  una- 
voidably overhangs  this  subject,  when  viewed  under  the  influence  of 
existing  theories,  we  find  many  gleams  of  light,  all  of  which  tend 
towards  the  very  points  for  which  we  are  now  contending.  The 
blindness  of  theorists  to  the  imperfections  and  contradictions  of 
their  own  conceits,  is  often  exposed  by  the  able  author  of  that  ar- 
ticle :  and  the  geological  theories  of  Cuvier  have  not  escaped 
remark,  and  able  animadversion.  After  giving  an  account  of  some 
fossil  fish  found  in  a  calcareous  shale  near  the  village  of  S^ein, 
(where  the  Rhine  issues  oixt  from  the  Lake  of  Constance,)  500  feet 
above  the  level  of  the  lake,  and  which  have  been  called  fresh  water 
fish  by  Saussure,  probably  from  the  vegetable  remains  also  found 
in  the  same  deposit,  this  author  makes  the  following  remark,  which 
might  be  equally  applied  to  many  other  parts  of  that  article  :  "  We 
can  only  say,  that  if  tliis  intermixture  of  marine  and  fresh  M'ater 
fish  exists  in  this  place,  and  if  there  is  no  error  in  the  assignment 
of  species,  the  geology  of  this  district  requires  to  be  more  carefully 
examined." — Edin.  Encyclop.  Organic  Remains,  p.  717. 


124  GEOLOGY  OF  SCRIPTURE. 

brated  rock-salt  mountain  at  Cordova,  which  is  nearly  300 
feet  high.  The  salt  alternates  with  parallel  beds  of  c/ay, 
gypsum^  or  sand.  Near  the  same  place  is  a  promontory  of 
red  salt,  660  feet  high,  and  nearly  solid  throughout.  The 
whole  Island  of  Ormuz,  in  the  Persian  Gulf,  is  said  to  be  a 
solid  mass  of  fossil  salt.  In  South  America  the  salt  mines 
are  numerous  ;  and  some  are  found  in  Peru,  at  an  elevation 
of  10,000  feet  above  the  sea  ;  but  even  in  these  elevated 
regions,  it  is  always  associated,  as  in  other  countries,  with 
secondary  and  diluvial  formations  of  lime-stone,  clay,  sand, 
sea  shells,  &c. 

As  to  the  origin  of  these  remarkable  deposits,  we  may 
conclude,  from  the  accompanying  phenomena,  that  the  salt 
has  been  deposited  in  hollows,  on  the  retreat  of  the  diluvial 
waters,  and  that  the  moisture  has  been  evaporated  or  drained 
off  in  the  course  of  subsequent  periods. 

That  the  waters  of  the  ocean  are  found  to  be  more  richly 
impregnated  with  salt,  the  greater  the  depth  from  whence  they 
are  taken,  is  a  fact  which  has  long  excited  the  remark  of  philo- 
sophers ;  and  it  appears  highly  probable  that,  from  the  greater 
specific  gravity  of  salt  water,  a  very  extensive  deposit  of  solid 
salt  may  take  place  in  the  greatest  depths  of  the  ocean  itself. 
The  reflux  current  in  the  Mediterranean  sea  is  easily  account- 
ed for  on  this  principle,  that,  as  the  waters  are  forced  into  it  by 
the  winds  and  the  tides,  and  a  great  evaporation  takes  place 
from  its  inland  surface,  the  impregnated  salt  water  sinks^  and 
being  constantly  supplied  by  the  entering  current,  the  lower 
strata,  heavily  charged  with  salt,  are  forced  out  again  into  the 
ocean,  at  a  depth  far  beyond  our  observation. 

We  have  a  most  interesting  illustration  of  this  fact,  in  an 
account  given  (in  the  18th  number  of  the  Edinburgh  Journal 
of  Agriculture,)  of  the  opening  of  the  lake  of  Lothing,  at 
Lowestoft,  in  Suffolk,  on  the  3d  of  June,  1831,  when  the  new 
harbour  was  first  entered  by  sea-borne  vessels.  The  salt 
water  entered  the  lake  with  a  strong  under  current,  the  fresh 
water  running  out,  at  the  same  time,  to  the  sea,  upo7i  the  sur- 
face. This  fresh  water  was  raised  to  the  top  by  the  irruption 
of  the  sea  water  beneath,  and  an  immense  quantity  of  yeast- 
like scum  rose  to  the  surface.  The  entire  body  of  water  in 
the  lake  was  elevated  above  its  former  level ;  and  on  putting 
down  a  pole,  a  strong  under  current  could  be  felt,  bearing  it 
from  the  sea.  At  one  place,  there  was  a  perceptible  and  clear- 
ly defined  line,  where  the  salt  water  and  the  fresh  met,  the 


GEOLOGY  OF  SCRIPTUllE.  125 

former  rushing  under  ihe  latter;  and  upon  this  line,  salt 
water  might  have  heen  taken  up  in  one  hand,  and  fresh  in  the 
other.* 

Mr.  Cox,  in  describing  the  salt  mines  of  Wielitska,  near 
Cracow,  in  Poland,  says,  that  the  latter  city  is  completely- 
undermined,  and  stands,  as  it  were,  on  pillars  of  salt.  The 
strata  of  the  whole  mine  are  described  minutely  by  M.  Gue- 
tard,  who  says,  that  the  upper  surface,  like  a  great  part  of 
Poland,  is  su7id ,-  then  follows  c/ff?/,  occasionally  mixed  with 
sand  and  gravel,  containing  fossil  animal  remains;  and  the 
third  stratum  is  calcareous  rock,  or  gypsum ;  from  all  which 
circumstances  he  very  naturally  concludes,  that  this  spot  was 
formerly  covered  by  tbe  sea,  and  that  the  salt  was  deposited 
from  its  evaporated  waters.  All  the  above  extraneous  for- 
mations being  evidently  diluvial,  like  those  at  Paris,  guide 
us  to  the  exact  period  of  this,  and  all  other  salt  deposits. 

It  only  now  remains  for  us  to  take  a  general  view  of  the 
coal  formations,  and  endeavour  to  discover  whether  there  is 
any  analogy  between  them  and  those  we  have  already  been 
considering.  The  first  striking  circumstance  in  the  coal 
fields,  is,  that  they  have  no  connection  with  primitive  rocks,  but, 
on  the  contrary,  are  always  found  in  secondary  and  plain 
countries.  They  lie  amongst  sand-stones,  clay-slates,  and 
calcareous  rocks,  but  have,  in  no  instance,  been  found  below 
chalk,  which  is  one  of  the  best  defined  secondary  formations 
immediately  preceding  the  deluge,  as  has  already  been 
shown.  It  is  true,  that  in  the  unreasonable  systems  of  gen- 
eral and  continuous  stratification  over  the  whole  globe,  which 
so  much  prevail  in  the  geology  of  the  present  day,  coal  is 
made  to  lie  far  beneath  chalk,  and  is,  consequently,  supposed 
to  be  a  formation  of  a  much  earlier  period.  Calculations 
have  accordingly  been  made,  as  to  the  probable  depth  of  coal 
beneath  chalk;  assuming,  as  a  fact,  that  the  dip  of  the  coal 
strata  continues  in  the  directions  we  now  find  them  to  lie  in 
different  coal  fields.  Such  calculations  will  be  elsewhere 
shown  to  lead  only  to  error  and  confusion. 

The  following  passage  in  an  able  article  of  the  Edinburgh 
Encyclopaedia,  on  the  geology  of  England,  will  serve  to 
show,  in  the  clearest  manner,  the  general  nature  of  the  coal 

*  Great  quantities  of  fresh  water  fish  perished  on  this  occasion ; 
one  pike,  liowever,  of  201bs,  weight,  had  found  time  enough  to  de- 
vour a  herring,  which  was  found  entire  in  his  stomach. 


126  GEOLOGY  OF  SCRIPTURE. 

fields  of  our  own  country;  and  all  similar  fields  may  be  tra- 
ced to  similar  situations,  by  extending  our  views  on  a  suffi- 
ciently large  scale,  and  not  being  misled  either  by  the  dip  of 
the  strata,  or  by  the  nature  of  the  embedding  rocks. 

"  The  principal  coal  fields,  in  the  northern  part  of  this  dis- 
trict, lie  in  Northumberland  and  Durham ;  the  West  Riding 
of  Yorkshire ;  and  in  Derbyshire.  The  strata  of  coal  termi- 
nate a  few  miles  north-east  of  the  town  of  Derby,  but  make 
their  appearance  again  to  the  south  of  the  Trent,  in  Leices- 
tershire, near  Ashby  de  la  Zouch :  on  the  south-east,  they 
terminate  at  Charnwood  Hills ;  while,  on  the  south-west,  a 
thick  bed  of  coarse  breccia  and  gravel  separates  them  from  the 
coal  fields  in  the  county  of  Warwick." — England,  p.  713. 

"Although,  as  we  have  already  remarked,  the  red  sand- 
stone rock  cuts  off"  the  coal  fields  in  general,  yet,  in  some 
parts  of  Lancashire,  and  the  western  counties,  detached  coal 
fields  are  surrounded  by  it.  All  the  strata  of  coal,  and  iron- 
stone, in  South  Wales,  are  deposited  in  a  limestone  basin, 
the  form  of  which  is  an  irregular  oval,  in  length  100  miles, 
and,  where  broadest,  18  or  20  miles.  The  upper  stratum  of 
coal  is  at  the  depth  of  50  or  60  fathoms ;  the  succeeding 
strata  lie  deeper,  and  are  accompanied  with  paralleled  strata  of 
iron  ore :  the  lowest  strata  at  the  centre  range  are  from  600 
to  700  fathoms  deep."  (This  depth  has,  of  course,  not  been 
found  from  actual  measurement :  700  fathoms  is  not  far  from 
a  mile;  and  it  may  be  doubted,  as  is  elsewhere  shown,  whe- 
ther any  secondary  formations  extend  to  so  great  a  depth.) 
"In  this  basin  there  are  12  strata  of  coal  from  three  to  nine 
feet  thick,  and  eleven  others  from  eighteen  inches  to  three 
feet,  making  in  all  95  feet  of  coal.  The  lime-stone  that  forms 
the  substratum  of  this  mineral  deposition,  appears  on  the  sur- 
face all  along  the  boundary  of  the  basin,  and  is  supposed  to  have 
an  underground  connexion,  from  point  to  point.'^'' — Edin. 
Encyclop.  England,  p.  714. 

Nothing  can  be  clearer  than  this  account :  and  it  appears 
certain,  that  as  in  the  case  of  the  Paris  basin,  this  lime-stoue 
formed  the  bed  of  the  antediluvian  sea,  on  which  the  dilu- 
vial deposits  of  coal,  clay,  iron-stone,  and  free-stone,  were 
alternately  laid  at  the  same  period.  This  being  admitted, 
we  have  a  natural  means  of  accounting  for  the  various  incli- 
nations in  the  parallel  strata  of  such  diluvial  deposits.  For, 
in  the  first  place,  they  must  have  followed  any  inclinations 
that  might  have  existed  in  the  bed  on  which  they  were  laid ; 


GEOLOGY  OF  SCRIPTURE.  127 

and,  in  the  next  place,  we  cannot  conceive  so  great  a  mass  of 
very  moist  materials  becoming  drained  of  their  moisture,  and 
settling-  down  into  a  dry  and  hard  state,  by  their  own  weight, 
without  subsiding  more  in  one  place  than  in  another ;  and  we 
can  thus  account  for  those  derangements  in  coal  and  other 
strata  which  always  occasion  trouble,  and  often  much  ex- 
pense to  the  miner;  and  are  called  by  the  technical  and 
provincial  names  of  troubles^  hitches,  nips,  slips,  &c. 

If  any  additional  proof  were  wanting  of  the  formation  of 
coal  having  been  occasioned  by  ^en-esfr^'a/ vegetable  substances, 
deposited  by  marine  action,  we  should  find  it  in  the  presence 
of  the  impressions  oi  fish  and  shells  in  the  strata  of  coal  in 
Leicestershire.  It  may  be  said,  that,  as  coal  is  called  by  ge- 
ologists a  fresh  water  formation,  these  aquatic  fossils  most 
probably  belong  io  fresh  water  lakes  ;  but  this  reasoning  is  not 
consistent  with  numberless  other  facts,  exhibited  in  the  coal 
strata,  and  which  fully  prove  their  connection  with  the  sea. 

There  occurs  also  in  the  coal  districts  another  difficulty, 
which  is  not  so  easily  accounted  for,  although  we  may  form 
some  indistinct  idea  of  it.  This  is,  the  solid  dyke  of  a  dif- 
ferent mineral,  which  sometimes  completely  intersects  the 
strata,  and  appears  to  have  been  injected,  as  it  were,  into  a 
fissure  occasioned  by  the  subsidence  above  explained.  We 
discover  something  analogous  to  these  dykes,  in  the  remarka- 
ble beds  of  solid  flint,  which  intersect  the  strata  of  chalk,  in 
every  direction.*     These  dykes  of  flint,  though  they  never 

*  During  a  residence  of  some  time  in  a  chalk  district,  on  the  coast, 
I  have  had  an  opportunity  of  paying-  some  attention  to  the  formation 
of  flint ;  a  subject  which  has  never  yet  been  duly  explained,  and  which 
will,  probably,  long  continue  a  problem  in  mineralogy.  With  regard 
to  the  actual  composition  of  flint,  I  consider  it  clearly  to  be  a  petri- 
fied fluid  drained  from  the  calcareous  mass,  in  a  moist  state.  The 
perfect  fluidity  of  flint,  at  one  period  of  its  formation,  is  distinctly 
proved,  by  the  fossil  shells  often  completely  embedded  in  its  sub- 
stance, or  preserved  in  the  most  perfect  manner,  attached  to  its  sur- 
face. Shells,  in  a  very  complete  state  of  preservation,  and  of  Uie 
most  fragile  nature,  are  often  found  neatly  filled  with  pure  flint,  even 
when  at  a  distance  from  any  bed,  or  nodule,  of  that  matter,  from 
which  we  might  have  concluded  tliem  to  have  been  accidentally  filled, 
like  melted  lead  into  a  mould.  This  fluid  matter,  however,  evidently 
did  not  folloAv  the  general  laws  of  fluids,  by  retaining  a  horizontal- 
surface  ;  for  I  have,  in  my  collection  of  fossils,  some  shells  of  echini, 
which  I  found  to  be  half  filled  with  chalk,  and  lialf  with  flint;  the 
latter,  with  a  rounded  surface,  and  in  a  sloping  position.  The  flint, 
in  these  specimens,   is,  also,  quite  uiicomiected  witli  the  only  tAvo 


128  GEOLOGY  or  SCRIPTURE. 

extend  to  the  thickness  often  found  in  the  coal  strata,  are 
spread  both  laterally  and  vertically  over  a  very  considerable 
space.  They  are  distinctly  proved  to  be  a  formation  subse- 
quent to  the  chalk  itself;  and  appear,  like  all  flints,  to  be  the 
petrified  calcareous  fluids  drained  from  the  whole  mass  in  the 
course  of  pressure.  It  is  not  easy  to  account  for  the  manner 
in  which  the  strata  of  the  chalk  were  sustained,  and  kept 
asunder,  whilst  the  petrifaction  of  this  juice  was  going  on ; 
but  this,  like  many  other  such  difficulties  in  mineralogy,  does 
not  affect  the  general  question ;  nor  ought  the  dykes  of  the 
coal  fields  to  be  advanced  in  opposition  to  the  general  princi- 
ple of  formation  which  we  have  now  been  considering. 

orifices  by  which  tlie  liquid  mattei'  could  have  entered  from  without; 
it  would,  therefore,  appear  to  have  originated  within  tlie  shell.  And 
this  idea  is  further  confirmed,  by  finding,  in  other  beautiful  and  per- 
fect specimens,  filled  Avith  flint,  that  the  substance  is  gently  rounded 
outwards  at  the  orifices,  as  if  pressed  in  a  thick  gummy  state  from 
within;  instead  of  being  hollowed  inwards,  as  lead  is,  when  poured 
into  a  mould  from  without.  I  have  also  found,  occasionally,  that 
those  nearly  spherical  nodules  found  in  the  chalk,  are  sometimes 
hollow,  and  contain,  in  the  cavity,  a  yellow  calcareous  liquid,  of  the 
consistency  of  cream,  and  perfectly  tasteless.  The  elongated  and 
irregularly  pointed  nodules,  are  often  fovmd  in  the  form  of  hollow 
tubes ;  within  which,  are  sometimes  ntiinute  crystals,  and  at  other 
times,  the  matter  has  shot  into  long  and  delicate  fibres,  like  hair,  cu- 
riously interwoven.  All  these  appearances  in  flint,  distinctly  prove 
it  to  have  been  a  fluid,  subsequent  to  the  deposition  of  the  chalk  in 
M'hich  it  is  now  found  ;  and  that  it  may,  perhaps,  properly  be  termed 
the  juice  of  the  calcareous  mass,  in  the  course  of  dessication,  con- 
verted into  stone,  by  those  unaccountable  chemical  laws,  which  now 
govern  the  mineral  world.  The  cause  of  the  singularly  irregular 
cavities  in  which  the  flints  have  been  formed,  and  of  their  horizon- 
tal stratification  in  the  chalk,  must,  for  the  present,  remain  subjects 
of  conjecture  alone;  but,  like  the  dykes  in  the  coal  strata,  or  the 
grottoes  and  fissures  in  lime-stone  rocks,  they  do  not  in  tlie  least 
affect  the  general  question. 


POSTSCRIPT  NOTE  TO  CHAPTER  VIII. 


While  these  sheets  are  preparing-  for  the  press,  and  while 
an  opportunity  is  still  in  my  power,  I  cannot  permit  it  to  pass 
without  a  few  remarks  upon  an  important  paper  on  the  Coal 
Series,  lately  read  before  the  Yorkshire  Philosophical  So- 
ciety, and  which  has  now  been  published  in  the  last  number 
of  the  London  and  Edinburgh  Philosophical  Magazine  (for 
Dec).  This  paper  is  upon  the  subject  of  "  The  Lower  Coal 
Series  of  Yorkshire."  It  presents  one  of  the  many  steps  in 
the  received  systems  of  geology,  which  are  slowly,  but  surely, 
advancing  towards  that  very  point  for  which  I  am  now  con- 
tending ;  and  the  few  remarks  I  have  to  make  upon  it,  will,  I 
trust,  go  far  to  prove,  that  the  hasty  conclusions  of  the  con- 
tinental geology,  on  which  our  own  schools  have  all  been 
founded,  have  led  to  much  contradiction  and  error,  on  this 
highly  important  branch  of  our  subject. 

It  has,  for  some  time,  been  one  of  the  well  known  facts  of 
geology,  that,  as  trees  and  herbs  could  not,  in  any  common 
circumstances,  or  by  the  common  laws  of  nature,  be  deposit- 
ed in  a  tranquil  state  in  the  bed  of  the  sea,  the  extensive 
deposits  we  now  discover  in  the  form  of  repeated  and  alter- 
nating beds  of  coal,  must  have  been  deposited  in  fresh  water  ; 
and,  from  this  assumption,  it  has  followed,  that,  wherever 
vegetable  substances  have  been  discovered,  in  the  form  of 
regular  strata,  even  though  occasionally  accompanied  with 
shells,  such  formations  have  received  the  geological  name  of 
Lacustrine  deposits,  as  having  resulted  from  the  long-con- 
tinued action  of  the  laws  of  nature  in  inland  lakes  of  fresh 
water. 

This  idea  has,  in  a  great  measure,  arisen,  as  I  have  else- 
where had  occasion  to  show,  from  the  deep-rooted  error,  that 
we  are  now  inhabiting  the  same  dry  land  which  existed 

M 


130  GEOLOGY  OF  SCRIPTURE. 

before  the  Mosaic  deluge ;  and  so  misled  have  we  in  general 
been,  by  this  delusion,  that,  wherever  shells  have  been  found 
in  the  neighbourhood  of  the  coal  strata,  it  has  been  assumed, 
as  a  matter  of  course,  that  they  had  belonged  to  such  ani- 
mals as  tben  inhabited  the  fresh  water.     It  must,  also,  be 
kept  in  mind,  that,  as  there  is  often  a  separation  of  several 
hundred  feet  between  the  extreme  limits  of  the  beds  of  coal, 
and  that,  within  that  space,  there  are  often  many  seams  of 
that  invaluable  deposit,  each  assumed  as  having  been   the 
result  of  immense  periods  of  time,  as  we  may  have  naturally 
concluded,  from  the  invisible  (because  visionary)  progress  of 
such  deposits  in  the  lakes  of  our  own  country,  or  in  the  rest 
of  Europe  ;  we  are  unavoidably  led,  by  the  adoption  of  such 
a  theory,  to  discard  history,  and  to  adopt  hypothesis  ;  laying 
ourselves  open,  in  such  instances  as  I  am  now  about  to  quote, 
to  the  vacillating  effects,  arising  from  distinct  contradiction. 
Mr  John  Phillips,  the  author  of  the  interesting  paper  above 
alluded  to,  says :  "  The  lowest  portion  of  the  Yorkshire  coal 
strata,  resting  upon  the  mill-stone  grit,  produces  compara- 
tively but  a  small  quantity  of  coal ;  and  this,  in  general,  not 
of  a  good  quality.     But  no  part  of  the  coal-field  is  more 
curious   in  its  geological  relations,  or  more  worthy  of  close 
study,  by  those  who  desire  to  penetrate  into  the  history  of  the 
production  of  coal.     We  may  define  this  lowest  coal  series 
very  simply,  by  saying,  that  it  is  included  between  the  mill- 
stone grit  of  Bromley,  beneath,  and  the  Jlag-stone  of  EUand, 
above,  having  a  thickness  of  120  or  150  yards,  and  inclosing, 
near  the  bottom,  two  thin  seams  af  coal,  one,  or  both  of  them, 
workable  ;  and  several  other  layers  scattered  through  its  mass, 
too  thin  to  be  worth  working.     The  most  regular  and  con- 
tinous  of  all  these  coal  seams,  reaches,  in  a  few  places,  to 
the  thickness  of  27  or  30  inches,  but  is  generally  only  about 
16.     It  is  worked  at  various  places,  near  Leeds,  Bradford, 
Halifax,  and  Sheffield. 

"  It  would  have  been  impossible  to  have  traced  so  thin  a 
seam  of  coal,  along  so  extensive  a  range,  without  some  pecu- 
liar facilities — some  poi7its  of  reference  more  distinct  than  the 
varying  quality  of  the  coal,  and  the  still  more  irregular 
fluctuations  of  the  sandstones  and  shales.  This  coal  seam 
is  covered  by  a  roof,  unlike  that  of  any  other  coal  bed,  above 
the  mountain  limestone,  in  the  British  Islands  ;  for,  instead  of 
containing  rnily  the  remains  of  plants,  or  fresh  water  shells, 
it  is  filled  with  a  considerable  diversity  of  marine  shells, 


GEOLOGY  OF  SCRIPTURE.  131 

belonging  to  the  genera  Peden^  and  Ammonites ;  and,  in  one 
locality,  near  Halifax,  specimens  of  OrtJiocera  Ostrea,  and 
scaly  fish,  have  been  obtained  from  certain  nodular  argillo- 
calcareous  concretions,  called  Baum  Pots,  lying  over  it. 
The  uniform  occurrence  of  the  Pectens,  and  Ammonites, 
through  so  wide  a  range,  over  one  particular  thin  bed  of  coal, 
while  they  are  not  found  in  any  other  part  of  the  coal  strata, 
is  one  of  the  most  curious  phenomena  yet  observed  concerning  the 
distribution  of  organic  remains,  and  will,  undoubtedly,  be  found 
of  the  highest  importance  in  all  deductions  relating  to  the  cir- 
cumstances which  attended  the  production  of  coal." 

Mr.  Phillips  then  proceeds  to  give  sections  of  the  whole 
series,  which,  as  in  other  coal  fields,  consists  of  alternating 
strata  of  sandy  and  argillaceous  deposits,  exactly  similar, 
in  their  general  character,  to  what  I  have  already  had  occa- 
sion to  exhibit ;  and  containing,  in  several  instances^  the 
fossil  remains  of  shells  and  plants. 

He  then  continues :  "  In  the  upper  coal  series  of  Northum- 
berland, Durham,  Yorkshire,  and  Derbyshire,  are  several  most 
extensive  layers  of  bivalve  shells,  commonly  called  muscle- 
bands,  and  referred  to  the  genus  Unio,  from  which  the  fresh- 
water origin  of  those  coal  deposits  has  been  inferred.  It  was, 
therefore,  with  extreme  gratification  that  I  found,  in  passing 
through  Mr.  Rawson's  colliery,  at  Swan  Banks,  in  the  midst 
of  the  series  above  described,  two  layers  of  these  shells,  one 
of  them  about  the  middle  of  the  series,  considerably  above  the 
Pecten  coal  ;  the  other  near  the  bottom,  and  considerably 
BELOW  that  coaV 

Mr.  Phillips  then  reasons  upon  the  "  periodical  return  of 
the  marine  element  into  its  ancient  receptacle,  after  that  had 
been,  for  some  time,  occupied  by  fresh  water,  and  its  few  in- 
habitants,''''  in  much  the  same  way  by  which  the  theories 
of  Cuvier  attempt  to  account  for  the  stratifications  in  the 
Paris  chalk  basin. 

After  what  has  been  already  said  on  the  more  consistent 
and  historical  source  of  such  deposits,  it  is  only  necessary,  in 
this  place,  to  add,  that  so  unquestionable  a  proof  of  marine 
agency,  in  various  parts  of  the  coal  basins  of  England,  must 
shake  to  their  foundations  the  theories  of  lacustrine  depo- 
sits :  and,  until  it  can  be  shown  in  our  own  lakes,  or  in  those 
of  the  European  continent,  not  only  that  such  extensive 
ligneous  deposits  are  now  going  on  in  their  beds,  but,  also, 
that  distinct  stratification  can,  under  any  circumstances, 


132  GEOLOGY  OP  SCRIPTURE. 

take  place,  without  the  action  of  the  tides  and  currents,  we 
must  continue  to  look  upon  such  vague  and  contradictory 
theories,  as  nothing  better  than  empty  dreams,  which  leave 
the  mind  in  a  confused  and  bewildered  state,  without  the 
reason  being  able  to  attain  any  sound  or  solid  ground  upon 
which  securely  to  repose.* 

*  For  further  most  important  evidence  on  this  subject,  see  tlie 
Supplementary  JSTote  to  Chapter  XL 


CHAPTER  IX. 

Organic  Remains, — Evidences  derived  from  them. — Erroneous 
Theoi'ies  of  Continuous  Stratification,  Diluvial  Fossil  Be' 
mains.  Diluvial  Origin  of  Coal. —  Unfounded  Theories  on 
this  Subject. —  The  Belgian  Coal  Fields. — Tropical  Produc- 
tions in  Polar  Begions. — Buffon's  Theory. — High  Import- 
ance of  the  Evidence  of  Fossils, — Natural  and  unavoidable 
mode  of  Transport. — Instances  in  Proof — Buoyant  nature 
of  Bodies  after  Death, — Rate  at  which  they  might  have  been 
Transported, — The  thick-skinned  Animals  floated  longest. 

Having  thus  found  a  farther  corroboration  of  the  truth  of 
Scripture,  in  examining  the  appearances  still  existing  on  the 
general  surface  of  the  earth,  we  now  come  to  the  consideration 
of  a  most  important  part  of  the  evidence,  by  which  the  record 
is  still  further  supported,  and  in  a  still  more  remarkable  de- 
gree :  I  mean,  that  of  the  fossil  remains  of  animal  and  veg- 
etable productions,  so  abundant  in  the  secondary  and  diluvial 
formations.  This  most  interesting  part  of  our  subject  is 
much  too  extensive  to  be  here  entered  upon  at  great  length ; 
but  as  many  of  the  theories  of  geology  have  been  formed  on 
the  evidence  of  fossils,  viewed  under  a  false  lights  it  becomes 
highly  necessary  to  take  a  general  view  of  the  subject;  and 
this  general  view  may,  perhaps,  prove  sufficient  for  our  pre- 
sent general  purpose  :  for  it  must  be  evident,  that  a  few  facts, 
unequivocally  proved,  and  supported  both  by  reason  and  by 
history,  are  of  more  value  in  leading  to  a  just  conclusion, 
than  a  thousand  thewies,  however  plausibly  and  ably  com- 
posed, where  both  reason  and  history  are  directly  contra- 
dicted. 

M  2 


134  GEOLOGY  OF  SCRIPTURE. 

The  observations  of  the  last  half  century,  in  various  parts 
of  the  world,  have  served  to  give  us  a  tolerably  extensive 
view  of  this  wide  field  for  inquiry :  but  when  we  consider, 
that  geology  is  but  yet  in  its  youth,  and  is  only  gradually 
rejecting  the  wild  fancies  of  its  more  childish  years ;  and, 
further,  when  we  remember  the  comparatively  few  spots 
upon  the  surface  of  the  whole  earth,  where  we  can  have  free 
access  to  a  view  of  the  interior  structure  in  its  upper  strata, 
it  may,  perhaps,  be  worthy  of  admiration,  that  our  knowledge 
is  already  so  extensive  as  it  is.  As  every  day,  however, 
adds  to  the  number  of  ardent  inquirers  who  bring  in  their 
stores  of  information,  to  add  to  the  common  stock,  we  may 
hope,  in  a  short  time,  to  obtain  much  more  correct  and  cer- 
tain data  than  we  even  yet  possess,  in  order  to  secure  the 
foundations  of  the  whole  structure,  which  have  been,  hitherto, 
but  too  generally  laid  in  the  sand. 

In  tracing  the  strata  of  the  earth's  surface,  we  discover, 
first,  that  no  organic  substances  exist  in  the  primitive  rocks  ;  nor 
do  we  meet  with  any  marine  remains  until  we  rise  several 
stages  in  the  secondary  strata.  As  we  mount,  however,  to- 
wards the  surface,  the  quantity  of  shells  increases  in  some  of 
the  strata,  while  in  others  they  are  almost  entirely  wanting, 
as  we  may  observe  is  the  case  in  the  visible  parts  of  the  pre- 
sent seas;  but  as  we  approach  still  nearer  to  the  surface,  and 
examine  the  rocks  and  soils  which  were  formed  at  the  period 
of  the  deluge,  we  find  a  vast  increase  in  the  fossil  remains, 
and  also  a  much  greater  variety  in  the  species  that  have  be- 
come embedded. 

In  the  course  of  our  examination  into  the  laws  of  nature, 
by  which  secondary  formations  have  been,  and  are  still  in 
the  act  of  being  formed,  we  found  that  it  could  not  be  ex- 
pected that  we  should  discover  any  fossil  remains  in  the 
transition  rocks,  and  but  few  in  the  earlier  secondary  forma- 
tions; because,  in  the  first  case,  the  rocks  so  called,  having 
been  formed  from  the  first  fragments  of  the  primitive  earth, 
(by  the  depression  of  a  part  of  which,  the  bed  for  the  "  gather- 
ing together  of  the  waters"  was  first  formed,)  were  arranged 
by  the  currents  of  the  ocean,  before  that  ocean  became  thickly- 
peopled  ;  and,  in  the  second  case,  because  the  empty  shells 
of  the  tribes,  as  they  perished,  would  be  comparatively  few, 
for  many  years  after  the  rivers  and  the  ocean  had  been  at 
work  in  forming  secondary  deposits.  As  time  advanced, 
however,  the  sea  would  naturally  become  loaded  with  the 


GEOLOGY  OF  SCRIPTURE.  135 

shelly  remains  of  past  generations ;  and  we  should,  therefore, 
expect  to  find  a  proportioned  increase  contained  in  the  tena- 
cious soils  which  have  since  been  hardened  into  stone. 

As  we  have  seen  that  the  laws  which  are  in  constant  action 
in  the  waters,  have  a  power  of  assorting-  and  arranging  dif- 
ferent materials,  in  different  and  separate  situations,  we  should 
expect  to  find  shells  more  abundant  in  one  formation  than  in 
another ;  and  as  we  now  find  recent  beds  of  sea  sand  of  the 
most  equal  grain,  and  of  vast  extent,  without  almost  a  vestige 
of  entire  sea  shells,  we  cannot  be  surprised  on  finding  that  the 
same  law  had  obtained  in  the  early  sand-stone  formations, 
and  that  freestone  rocks  are  consequently,  in  general,  desti- 
tute of  these  fossil  remains ;  while  the  calcareous  rocks,  which, 
when  soft  and  moist,  must  have  been  of  a  tenacious  and 
muddy  consistency,  retain  shells  in  extraordinary  quantities. 
We  have  also  found  that  there  was  little  probability  of  dis- 
covering the  remains  of  either  fish  or  quadrupeds  in  the 
graduaUy  formed  secondary  rocks,  because,  in  the  case  of 
such  deposits,  the  dead  of  both  classes  must  generally  have 
been  devoured  by  the  voracious  tribes  of  the  sea,  before  they 
could  have  been  covered  up  and  protected. 

It  has  been  too  long  and  too  generally  the  custom  with  geolo- 
gists to  reason  upon  the  age  of  particular  formations,  from  the 
nature  of  the  fossils  which  they  may  be  found  to  contain. 
We  have  thus  arrived  at  many  erroneous  conclusions  with 
respect  both  to  the  actual  age  of  our  globe,  and  to  the  gradual 
production  of  new  species  in  the  animal  kingdom.  As  the 
whole  science  of  geology  may  be  considered  to  be  founded 
on  the  evidence  of  organic  fossils,  it  is  of  the  highest  im- 
portance on  entering  upon  this  subject  to  endeavour  to  correct 
our  evidence  before  coming  to  a  final  conclusion.  And  it  is, 
therefore,  highly  necessary  to  discover  whether  the  theory  of 
continuous  stratification  is  well  founded ;  and  also,  whether 
a  distinct  identity  of  fossil  species  can,  in  general,  be  traced 
in  the  same  formations  in  every  situation.  On  this  most  im- 
portant part  of  the  subject,  I  cannot  produce  stronger  reason- 
ing than  has  already  been  made  use  of  by  one  of  our  most 
distinguished  writers  on  geology  and  mineralogy;  and  the 
author  of  the  very  able  article  on  Organic  Remains,  in  the 
Edinburgh  Encyclopaedia.  Although  my  opinions,  on  many 
parts  of  these  subjects,  differ  widely  from  those  expressed 
by  this  able  writer,  yet  we  here  so  completely  coincide,  that 
1  shall  not  hesitate  to  introduce  his  line  of  reasoning  in  this 
place. 


136  GEOLOGY  OF  SCRIPTURE. 

"It  is  now  necessary,"  says  he,  "to  examine  a  question 
which  is  strictly  geological;  namely,  the  nature  and  value 
of  the  evidence  which  fossil  remains  aiFord  towards  the  in- 
dentification  of  strata,  whether  in  the  same,  or  in  distant 
countries.  Too  much  stress  seems  to  have  been  lately  laid 
on  their  utility  in  this  respect ;  a  natural  consequence  of  the 
enthusiasm  which  commonly  attends  the  discovery  of  a  new 
engine.  It  is,  in  some  degree,  connected  with  the  opinion 
which  has  been  also  held  respecting  the  necessary  identity 
of  certain  distant  strata,  and  of  an  universal  or  very  general 
deposition  of  particular  rocks.  The  general  question,  as  far 
as  it  is  peculiarly  of  a  geological  nature,  we  dare  not  here 
enter  upon,  as  it  would  lead  us  to  a  very  long  train  of  investi- 
gation ;  but  we  may  state  it,  not  only  as  our  own  conviction, 
but  as  now  a  prevailing  opinion  among  all  geologists,  that  no 
proof  of  such  UNIVERSAL  formations^  as  they  have  been  called^ 
exists.  The  arguments  which  would  prove  that  opinion,  from 
a  presumed  identity  between  certain  strata  mutually,  and  that 
of  the  fossils  which  they  contain.,  and  which,  of  course,  presume 
on  a  succession  of  fossil  bodies,  as  definite  and  constant  as 
the  corresponding  successions  of  the  strata,  are  open  to  many 
other  objections,  which  we  must  now  proceed  to  examine. 

"  Even  admitting,  that  in  two  parts  of  the  globe,  which 
we  shall  here  suppose  polar  and  equatorial,  the  same  strata, 
as  to  the  materials  and  constitution  of  the  rocks  themselves, 
should  exist,  and  be  found  also  in  the  same  order,  it  is  not  to  be 
expected  that  the  same  fossil  bodies  should  occur  in  them,,  unless 
the  differences  of  climate  were  considered  an  object  of  no  moment. 
If,  in  a  weaker  degree,  yet  the  same  objections  hold  good  in 
those  cases  where  the  positions  are  far  less  discordant,  as, 
even  between  the  Mediterranean  and  the  British  channel,  at 
present,  we  do  not  find  a  correspondence  in  the  living  species. 
In  every  situation,  were  we  even  to  consider  the  animals 
only,  the  same  reasons  against  such  identity,  among  distant 
fossils  in  particular  strata,  exist ;  as  we  know  that  the  difl^erent 
species  inhabit  different  places  irregularly,  in  colonies,  or 
otherwise;  and  that  even  when  mixed,  they  are  limited  to  no 
determinate  kind  or  number.  If  to  this  we  add  the  uncer- 
tainty of  the  strata  themselves,,  the  chances  of  a  concurrence 
become  so  extremely  small,  as  rather  to  make  us  wonder 
that  such  a  notion  could  ever  have  been  adopted.  Many 
strata  have  been  formed  in  independent  cavities^  and  are  not 
likely  to  have  corresponded  in  any  respect ;  and  at  this  mo- 
ment, one  Species,  the  oyster,  or  the  muscle,  for  example,  is 


GEOLOGY  OF  SCRIPTURE.  137 

now  an  inhabitant  of  submarine  alluvia  of  entirely  different 
characters  in  diflferent  seas,  or  even  in  different  parts  of  the 
same  sea.  There  is  no  reason  why  the  fossils  of  the  Paris 
basin  should  be  identical  with  those  of  the  English;  because 
the  living  animals  may  have  differed.  If  the  bottom  of  the 
English  channel  should  hereafter  become  an  elevated  stratum, 
the  variety  of  its  fossils  would  confound  all  this  reasoning. 

^'•Neither  can  the  antiquity  of  beds  he  proved  by  the  same  rta- 
sons,  unless  we  could  also  prove  a?}  absolute  succession  of  species, 
or  genera  in  creation  ;  and  unless  these  recurrences  were  more 
constant  and  regular  than  they  are,  and  than  we  have  shown 
them  to  be,  in  former  parts  of  this  essay.  We  might,  besides, 
to  these  add  many  more  objections  to  the  probable  value  of 
this  criterion,  from  general  considerations ;  but  it  cannot  be 
necessary.  With  respect  to  its  value  in  minor  cases,  when 
the  strata  in  one  deposit,  such  as  that  of  England,  are  to  be 
identified,  the  objections  may  diminish  in  number,  yet,  even 
then,  these  proofs  are  not  to  be  relied  on,  as  must  be  evident 
from  what  has  just  been  stated  with  respect  to  living  colo- 
nies, now  in  the  surrounding  seas.  That  which  would  not 
identify  modern  submarine  strata  of  mud,  must  not  he  expected 
to  prove  the  identity  of  ancient  strata  of  rock,  formed  under  the 
same  circumstances.  That  it  may  afford  occasional  assistance, 
will  not  be  denied  :  but,  to  use  a  wrong  method  of  solving  diffi- 
culties is  not  only  to  deceive  ourselves,  but  to  establish  or  confirm 
false  theories,  and  to  stop  the  progress  of  all  useful  investigation. 

"  It  is  evident,  that  to  prove  the  identity  of  an  universal 
stratum,  one  species,  or  set  of  species,  must  have  existed  all 
over  the  ocean  where  its  materials  were  deposited.  To  prove 
the  correspondence  of  strata  less  universal,  a  more  limited 
degree  of  the  same  improbability  is  required.  To  prove  that 
particular  fossils  determine  the  character  and  place  of  any 
particular  stratum,  evei-y  species,  or  set  of  species,  should  have 
changed  with  the  superposition  of  a  fresh  stratum:  besides 
vphich,  it  should  never  either  have  /3?-e-existed  or  re-existed. 
But  it  is  surely  unnecessary  to  add  to  these  arguments  against 
this  theory.  We  must,  therefore,  here  drop  the  subject,  and 
examine,  in  as  few  words  as  possible,  by  an  enumeration  of 
species  and  genera  in  particular  strata,  how  the  fact  really 
stands.  Conchologists,  and  those  geologists  who  have  studied 
this  subject,  will  be  at  no  loss  to  extend  a  comparison,  which 
we  shall  render  as  distinct  as  possible,  consistent  with  the 
necessary  brevity ;  be(;ause  a  few  deficiencies  in  the  evidence  are 
sufficient  to  render  the  whole  nearly,  if  not  entirely,  useless ; 


138  GEOLOGY  OF  SCRIPTURE. 

and  we  need  scarcely  say  how  much  we  may  be  misled  by 
thus  trusting  to  what  is  imperfect  or  groundless. 

"The  lias  of  France,  Spain,  Italy  and  England,  a  stratum, 
or  set  of  strata,  well  identified  by  their  position  with  regard 
to  the  red  marl,  contains  different  fossils,  in  these  several 
countries.  Ecliini  are  found  from  primary  slate  up  to  chalk; 
as  are  tellinae,  turbines  and  chamae.  The  belemnites,  which 
are  common  in  the  chalk  of  France  and  Ireland,  are  rare  in 
that  of  England;  and  the  fossils  of  the  chalk  of  Maistricht 
are  almost  peculiar  to  it.  The  vegetable  remains  that  are 
found  in  the  clay  of  Sheppey,  do  not  occur  in  that  stratum  in 
other  parts  of  England.  Crocodiles^  a  fossil  not  a  little  con- 
spicuous, occur  in  the  lias,  in  the  Portland  oolite,  in  the  green 
sand  of  England,  and  in  the  blue  clay.  Crabs,  which  are 
found  in  one  of  the  earliest  secondary  strata,  to  wit,  in  the 
mountain  limestone,  also  exist  in  the  chalk,  and  in  the  London 
clay ;  as  far  asunder  as  they  well  can  be.  Madreporites,  ento- 
molites,  pentacrinites,  patellae,  ostreae,  ammonites,  terebra- 
tulae,  gryphites,  pectines,  anomiae,  and  numerous  others, 
which  it  would  be  superfluous  to  name,  are  found  in  nearly 
all  the  strata:  and  so  far  is  it  from  being  true,  that  there  are 
even  any  predominant  associations  of  these,  that  they  occur, 
intermixed  in  every  possible  ma7iner,  as  will  be  more  fully 
evinced  in  the  general  list  hereafter  given.  It  seems,  there- 
fore, quite  unnecessary  to  pursue  this  subject  further,  since  it 
must  be  sufficiently  plain  that  the  evidence  in  question  is  worth- 
less, or  worse. ^^ — Edin.  Encyclop.     Organic  Remains,  p.  753. 

I  do  not  think  it  necessary  to  attempt  to  add  to  the  powerful 
reasoning  from  facts,  contained  in  the  above  extract.  It  must 
be  evident  to  every  candid  inquirer,  that  it  shakes  to  its  very 
foundation  the  whole  theory  upon  which  the  indefinite  age  of 
our  globe  is  assumed ;  and  we  thus  distinctly  advance  in  the 
line  of  reasoning  suggested  by  the  earliest  history  of  the 
earth,  and  by  the  action  of  the  laws  of  nature  every  where 
displayed  around  us. 

But  it  is  in  the  monuments  left  us  by  the  deluge,  that  we 
should  chiefly  look  for  the  most  abundant  fossil  remains  of 
every  kind  ;  and  we  must  begin  the  consideration  of  these  re- 
markable monuments,  by  again  alluding  to  what  has  been 
already  said  in  the  last  chapter,  respecting  the  origin  of  the 
strata  amongst  which  coal  and  other  fossil  productions  are 
invariably  found.  It  has  already  been  stated,  that  by  far  the 
most  prohable  origin  of  the  coal  formations  may  be  traced 
to  the  ruins  of  the  whole  vegetable  world,  at  the  period  of 


GEOLOGY  OP  SCRIPTURE.  139 

the  deluge ;  and  in  considering  the  subject  of  fossil  quadru- 
peds from  tropical  climates,  we  shall  find  sufficient  reason  to 
account  for  the  numerous  palm  trees  and  other  tropical  plants 
which  have  been  found  to  exist  in  some  of  the  coal  fields. 
Some  writers  have  endeavoured,  indeed,  to  account  for  the 
coal  formations,  by  the  idea  o(  stibmarine  forests  of  sea  weed, 
which  they  have  supposed  to  exist  in  the  depths  of  the  ocean. 
Though  there  can  be  little  doubt  that  many  unknown  wonders 
exist  in  these  depths,  and,  amongst  tbem  many  species  of 
marine  animals,  with  which  we  must  for  ever  be  unacquainted, 
and  which,  as  fossils,  we  may  look  upon  as  extinct;  yet  we 
have  no  reason,  from  the  specimens  of  marine  vegetation  oc- 
casionally thrown  upon  our  coasts,  to  suppose  that  any  thing 
like  trees  exists  there.  It  may,  indeed,  be  with  confidence 
affirmed,  that  no  unexceptionable  specimen  of  a  marine  plant, 
embedded  in  rock,  has  ever  yet  been  produced.  The  ground 
for  supposing  that  all  these  numerous  strata  in  the  coal  dis- 
tricts, ought,  like  those  of  the  basins  of  Paris  and  of  London, 
which  contain  no  coal,  to  be  included  in  diluvial  effects,  is, 
that  from  the  number  of  months  during  whicb  all  things  were 
fully  submitted  to  the  laws  which  act  within  the  bed  of  the 
ocean,  these  laws  had  sufficient  time  to  class  and  arrange  the 
enormous  quantity  of  movable  materials  so  abundantly  pro- 
vided by  that  destructive  event :  and  however  difficult  we 
may  find  it,  to  bring  our  minds  to  the  conviction,  that  beds 
of  many  hundred  feet  might  have  been  formed  in  the  course 
of  a  few  months,  we  ought  to  correct  our  confined  notions  on 
such  subjects,  by  well  considering  the  large  scale  of  the  whole 
earth,  by  which  we  have  hitherto  been  measuring  the  phe- 
nomena on  its  surface. 

In  examining  a  section  of  the  coal  strata  in  the  vicinity  of 
Newcastle,  we  find  the  following  result  in  a  mine  of  270 
yards  in  depth. 

Yds. 

Covering  of  loose  soil    ------     10 

35  strata  of  different  coloured  sandstone 

at  various  depths    ------  177 

16  strata  oi  clay  and  clay  slate      -     -     -     72 

16^  strata  of  coal,  of  various  thickness, 

from  2  feet  to  6  inches     -    -     -     -     10     0     2 


ft. 

in. 

0 

0 

1 

0 

2 

8 

Yards    270    0     10 


140  GEOLOGY  OF  SCRIPTURE. 

We  thus  find  the  strata,  in  this  great  coal  field,  composed 
exclusively  of  such  sandy  and  arg-illaceous  materials  as  were 
naturally  to  be  looked  for  in  the  accumulations  from  the  di- 
luvial waters,  during  a  continued  action  of  several  months. 
On  examining  sections  of  other  coal  districts,  as  in  Stafford- 
shire, and  in  Scotland,  we  find  the  same  constant  repetition 
of  sand-stone^  slate-clay,  Jire-clay,  argillaceous  iron-stone,  &c. 
without,  in  any  instance,  intervening  formations,  such  as 
chalk,  containing  shell  fossils,  or  others  obviously  of  slow 
and  gradual  marine  formation,  indicating  a  long  period  be- 
tween the  deposition  of  the  different  strata  of  coal.  It  has 
been  already  observed,  that  the  coal  fields  are  generally, 
more  or  less,  in  the  form  of  a  basin;  and  as  the  upper  edges 
of  these  calcareous,  or  sand-stone  basins,  are  in  many  in- 
stances traced  round  the  whole  circumference  of  the  deposit; 
and  as  the  same  materials  are,  in  such  cases,  found  to  form 
the  bed  on  which  the  coal  and  other  superincumbent  strata 
repose,  we  have  the  strongest  possible  reason  for  concluding 
that  the  whole  formed  a  valley  or  basin  in  the  bed  of  the  an- 
tediluvian sea,  and  received  its  contents,  while  that  sea  was 
depositing  the  whole  movable  matter  of  the  former  continents, 
with  which,  we  feel  satisfied,  its  waters  must  have  been 
charged.  In  these  deposits  large  trees  are  often  found,  de- 
tached from  the  great  -strata  of  coal,  and  extending  from  one 
stratum  through  a  variety  of  others,  which  is  sufficient  proof 
of  these  strata,  at  least,  having  all  been  formed  at  one  periods 
Some  of  these  fossil  trees  are  so  perfectly  petrified,  that  the 
roughness  of  the  bark  is  distinctly  seen,  as  well  as  the  in- 
terior circles,  which  denote  the  yearly  growth  of  the  timber. 
At  other  times,  the  wood  is  hulf  carbonated,  like  the  surtur- 
brand  of  Iceland.  It  is  also  a  general  remark  in  all  coal  dis- 
tricts, that  the  stratification  which  attends  that  fossil  sub- 
stance, always  terminates,  and  is  ill  defined  and  disordered 
when  it  approaches  any  mountain  range  of  primitive  or  early 
secondary  rock.  This  is  an  effect  which  we  should  naturally 
look  for,  when  we  consider  the  nature  of  the  subsidence  of  a 
moist  mass  of  such  extent,  on  being  left  to  drain  of  its  su- 
perfluous waters.  For  while  that  mass  subsided  more  in  one 
place  than  in  another,  and  thus  produced  what,  in  the  miner's 
phrase,  are  called  troubles,  dykes,  ?ind  slips,  we  can  easily  sup- 
pose great  disorder  to  have  been  occasioned  where  the  mass 
touched  the  edges  of  the  basin  within  which  it  was  deposited ; 
and  where  friction  would  prevent  regularity  in  the  subsidence 


GEOLOGY  OF  SCRIPTURE.  141 

for  some  considerable  distance,  and  would  consequently  throw 
the  whole  stratification  into  disorder.  That  these  troubles, 
dykes,  and  slips,  are  occasioned  by  such  subsidence,  is  clearly 
proved  by  the  well  known  circumstance  in  coal  mines,  that, 
even  in  such  cases,  each  stratum  usually  retains  its  parallel- 
ism, with  regard  to  those  immediately  above  and  below  it. 

We  must  feel  satisfied,  that,  at  the  period  of  the  deluge, 
the  whole  forest  scenery  of  the  globe,  with  the  roots,  branches, 
and  foliage  entire,  must  have  been  floated  off  upon  the  waters, 
matted  together  in  groups,  and  forming  immense  islands, 
which  must  have  been  overwhelmed  in  confused  masses,  by 
the  force  of  the  waves,  embedded  at  various  depths,  and  cov- 
ered up  by  strata,  of  various  earthy  and  sandy  composition, 
all  which  strata,  having  been  subsequently  placed  above  the 
level  of  the  present  seas,  either  by  the  depression  of  the  for- 
mer continents,  or  by  the  elevation  of  the  bed  of  the  former 
sea,  (or  by  a  combination  of  both  these  effects,)  have  been 
since  drained  of  their  former  moisture,  and  have  assumed  the 
solid  mineral  substance  which  we  now  find  so  valuable. 

It  may  be  urged,  in  opposition  to  this  idea,  that  such  mass- 
es of  vegetable  substances  would  continue  to  Jloat  upon  the 
waters  for  any  length  of  time,  and  therefore  could  not  be  em- 
bedded at  the  depths  we  now  often  find  the  coal  strata.  But 
we  are  assured  by  daily  experience,  that  though  vegetable 
matter  may  float  for  some  time  upon  the  waters,  it  does  not 
thus  continue  sufficiently  buoyant  for  an  indefinite  period; 
but,  on  the  contrary,  becomes  at  length  so  completely  satu- 
rated with  water,  as  to  lose  its  buoyancy,  and  to  sink  to  the 
bottom,  like  any  other  heavy  substance.  We  have,  amongst 
many  familiar  proofs  of  this,  one  directly  in  point,  which  is 
described  as  now  in  progress,  on  a  considerable  scale,  in  some 
of  the  American  lakes ;  where  such  collections  of  timber  are, 
in  many  instances,  being  formed  near  the  embouchures  of  the 
rivers  which  flow  into  them  from  the  forests,  that  the  extent, 
both  superficially,  and  in  depth,  appears  truly  astonishing, 
and  has  been  described  as  the  incipient  formation  of  future 
coal  fields. 

In  the  late  survey  of  the  boundaries  between  the  United 
States  and  Canada,  we  have  some  interesting  information  on 
this  subject.  About  1000  streams  of  various  sizes  are  des- 
cribed as  emptying  themselves  into  Lake  Superior ;  and  as 
sweeping  into  it  great  quantities  of  drift  timber,  which  form 
islands  near  the  mouths  of  the  rivers.     Within  a  mile  of  the 


142  GEOLOGY  OP  SCRIPTURE. 

shore,  this  lake  is,  in  many  places,  70  or  80  fathoms  in 
depth;  and  within  eight  miles,  it  has  been  sounded  136  fath- 
oms. The  thickness  of  this  lignite  formation  is,  therefore, 
probably  very  considerable. 

These  accumulations  are  often  at  some  depth  under  water; 
and  it  is  probable  that  in  the  course  of  their  long  passage 
down  the  American  streams,  the  trees  become  saturated  with 
moisture,  and  arrive  in  the  lakes  in  a  state  which  causes  them 
to  sink,  and  accumulate  in  the  manner  described.  In  our  own 
country  we  are  so  familiarised  to  floating  fir  timber  in  all  our 
sea  ports,  that  we  are  too  apt  to  consider  a//  timber  as  buoyant 
in  a  high  degree.  But  when  we  extend  our  views  to  the  im- 
mense forests  of  the  whole  earthy  and  consider  the  condition 
to  which  this  forest  scenery  must  have  been  reduced  by  the 
action  of  the  deluge,  we  must  be  convinced  that,  on  so  great 
a  scale,  the  buoyancy  of  the  great  floating  masses  could  not 
have  long  continued ;  and  that  various  succeeding  masses 
must  have  sunk  in  the  diluvial  waters,  at  successive  short 
periods,  sufficiently  distant,  however,  to  admit  of  considerable 
intervening  accumulations  of  earthy  or  sandy  sediments,  be- 
tween the  strata  which  were  destined  to  the  formation  of  coal.* 

We  feel  satisfied  that  the  plants  and  leaves  now  found  in 
such  abundance,  impressed  upon  the  strata  in  contact  with  the 
coal,  and  for  a  few  feet  distant  from  it,  must  have  been  em- 
bedded in  a  fine,  soft  clay,  or  mud  ;  because  their  most  tender 
stems  are  well  preserved,  and  are  often  unbroken  to  a  consid- 
erable length  :  and  as  many  of  tbese  plants  have  been  recog- 
nized as  belonging  to  tropical  climates^  they  must  be  judged  by 
the  same  evidence  by  which  the  tropical  animals  now  found 
in  uncongenial  climates  can  be  proved  to  have  been  floated, 
by  the  currents  of  the  ocean,  from  a  southern  to  a  northern 
latitude.]"     If,  then,  it  can  be  proved,  beyond  a  doubt,  that  the 

*  For  the  most  conclusive  evidence  on  this  part  of  our  subject,  see 
the  Supplementary  Note  to  Chapter  XI. 

+  The  species  of  fossil  found  near  the  coal,  which  has  been 
called  Lepidodendron,  is  very  abundant,  and  is  sometimes  found  of 
great  size.  Some  specimens  have  been  measured  in  the  Jarrow 
Colliery,  from  25  to  50  feet  in  length  :  and  in  the  Fossil  Flora,  a 
specimen  of  this  plant  is  mentioned, ybz/r  and  a  half  feet  in  breadth. 

The  unbroken  length  of  some  of  the  coal  fossils  has  been  urged  as 
an  argument  against  transportation,  but  without  sufficient  grounds. 
For  if  we  consider  the  great  floating  masses  of  vegetation  which 
must,  in  numberless  instances,  have  been  bound  together  at  the  pe- 
riod of  the  deluge,  we  may  easily  suppose  that  many  of  tlie  reeds 


GEOLOGY  OF  SCRIPTURE.  143 

mammoth  of  the  frozen  regions  never  could  have  been  an  in- 
habitant of  those  regions,  where  its  remains  are  now  found 
*  pVeserved  in  /ce,  we  must,  upon  the  same  evidence,  conclude 
that  all  tropical  fossil  productions  now  found  in  climates  un- 
suited  to  their  growth,  were  lodged  in  their  present  beds  by 
the  same  powerful  agent ;  and  that  that  agent  was  the  deluge 
described  by  Moses ;  because  neither  from  history,  tradition^ 
nor  facts,  have  we  evidence  of  any  other  such  destructive 
event. 

In  Iceland,  and  also  in  the  lately  discovered  Melville  Island, 
in  the  arctic  regions,  remains  of  large  trees  have  been  found, 
more  or  less  converted  into  coal ;  and  in  some  cases  the  stems 
are  only  partially  carbonized.  In  both  these  cases,  they  are 
of  a  size  that  bespeaks  the  produce  of  a  very  different  climate 
from  that  in  which,  they  are  now  found  ;  and  they  must,  there- 
fore, like  other  southern  products,  in  northern  latitudes,  be 
attributed  to  the  action  of  the  currents  at  the  period  of  the 
deluge. 

Amber  may  also  be  mentioned  as  an  antediluvian  fossil, 
found  more  frequently  in  the  northern  than  in  the  southern 
regions.  It  is  not  certainly  known  to  what  species  of  tree 
this  gum  must  formerly  have  belonged  ;  but  it  is  evident,  that 
it  is  the  resinous  juice  of  a  tropical  plant,  in  which  insects 
have  become  entangled  in  the  same  manner  as  in  similar 
cases,  on  modern  trees.  That  it  should  be  found  more  fre- 
quently in  the  north  than  in  the  south,  is  an  additional  evi- 
dence of  the  effects  of  currents  ;  as  from  its  great  buoyancy 
in  water,  it  would  float  for  any  length  of  time,  and  become 
embedded  in  the  diluvial  soils,  from  which  it  has  subsequent- 
ly been  washed  out  by  rivers,  carried  again  to  the  sea,  and 
thrown  upon  our  coasts,  or  is  found  floating  on  the  waters.  It 
is,  however,  often  found  in  its  diluvial  bed  in  France,  and  in 
Germany  ;  and  on  many  parts  of  our  own  eastern  coasts,  it  is 
found  associated  with  jet,  or  bituminized  wood. 

The  above  line  of  reasoning  respecting  stratification,  must, 
no  doubt,  appear  strange  to  all  those  who  coincide  with  the 
following  curious  passage,  to  be  found  in  a  work  intended 

or  tough  canes  must  have  become  deposited  with  the  whole  mass,  in 
an  unbroken  state.  Amongst  other  vegetable  substances  found  in 
the  mines  of  Northumberland,  ears  of  barley,  and  leaves  of  pine- 
apples, have  been  noticed.  Sometimes  large  trees  extend  from  one 
stratum  into  another,  one  end  of  this  petrified  timber  being  of  a  dif- 
ferent mineral  nature  from  Uie  other. 


144  GEOLOGY  OF  SCRIPTURE. 

*'  for  the  use  of  young  persons,  who  may  desire  lo  become 
acquainted  with  the  elements  of  Mineralogy  and  Geology." 
In  treating  of  the  general  geology  of  England,  and  after  ex- 
plaining the  commonly  received  theory  of  general  and  regu- 
lar stratification,  this  author  proceeds  thus:  "  In  fine,  a  view 
of  the  geology  of  England  assures  us  of  the  truth  of  the 
assertion  with  which  we  set  out, — that  order  in  regard  to  de- 
position is  universally  prevalent^  and  that  this  order  is  never 
inverted.  Keeping  in  view  this  important  fact,  we,  who  re- 
side in  a  country  which  is  of  the  newest  formation,"  (allud- 
ing to  London,  or  its  neighbourhood,)  "  might  amuse  our- 
selves with  speculations  upon  the  distance  which  any  one  of  the 
more  ancient  sti-ata  dips  beneath  our  feet.  This  can  only  be 
done  as  a  matter  of  curiosity,  for  ue  cannot  even  hope  to  ap- 
proach the  truth,  because  0f  the  uncertainty  whether  the 
numerous  strata  to  the  west  of  us  do,  or  do  not,  actually  con- 
tinue to  dip  towards  the  east,  any  considerable  distance  be- 
neath the  surface ;  and  even  if  we  were  to  assume  this  to  be 
the  fact, /or  the  sake  of  amusing  ourselves  with  a  calculation  of 
some  sort,  we  should  still  be  at  a  loss  as  to  the  probable  thick- 
ness of  the  several  strata.  Coal  is  one  of  the  most  important 
deposits,  and  therefore  claims  our  consideration  in  as  great,  if 
not  in  a  greater  degree,  than  any  other.  We  find,  then,  that 
the  nearest  place  to  London  at  which  coal  is  found,  is  in 
the  neighbourhood  of  Bristol,  near  which  place  it  dips  to  the 
east,  beneath  the  red  marl.  In  this  country  its  geological 
situation  is  between  it  and  the  mountain  limestone.  Now, 
its  geological  situation  being  beneath  the  red  marl,  we  may 
observe,  that  there  are  very  many  formations,  or  strata,  sup- 
posing them  all  to  dip  together  towards  the  east,  intervening, 
between  the  London  clay  and  the  coal.  And  when  we  recol- 
lect that  the  outgoing  of  the  nearest  coal  is  upwards  of  100 
miles  from  London  ;  that  the  wells  there  pass  upwards  of  130 
feet  through  the  London  clay,  before  we  reach  the  sand 
which  lies  upon  the  chalk,  from  which  sand  the  water  of  the 
London  wells  springs  ;  if  again  we  consider  that,  between  the 
sand,  and  the  coal,  the  numerous  strata  extend  on  the  surface, 
over  a  tract  of  country  about  40  miles  in  length  from  east  to 
west,  as  from  Hungerford  to  Bristol ;  and  if,  moreover,  we  im- 
agine all  these  strata  to  be  compressed  beneath  the  sand  which 
lies  upon  the  chalk,  into  one-twentieth  part  of  what  their  out- 
goings occupy  on  the  surface ;  ive  shall,  even  then,  be  compelled 
to  suppose,  that  the  strata  of  coal  are  more  than  two  miles  be- 


GEOLOGY  OF  SCRIPTURE.  145 

math  the  bottom  of  the  London  clay.  How  near  the  truth  this 
calculation  may  be,  or  whether  the  coal,  and  all  the  interven- 
ing strata  between  it  and  the  chalk,  pass  away  beneath  our  feet, 
we  have  no  reasonable  ground  for  concluding. '^''^^ 

Thus,  because  "Me  coal  near  Bristol  dips  towards  the  east 
three  feet  in  six,"  there  may  be  a  possibility  of  the  existence 
of  the  same  seam,  at  the  depth  of  several  miles  under  the 
deep  London  clay.  Fo"r  it  is  too  much  to  allow  a  loss  of 
nineteen  twentieths,  in  the  calculation,  by  the  compression  of 
the  strata ;  for,  instead  of  being-  compressed,  they  must  be 
supposed  to  be  expanded,  to  occupy  so  much  more  room  than 
they  would  all  have  done,  had  the  whole  series  been  found 
at  Bristol.  It  seems  scarcely  necessary  to  remark  upon  the 
extravagance  of  theory  contained  in  the  above  passage.  In- 
stead of  taking  London  for  our  point  of  calculation,  we  have 
only  to  extend  the  idea  a  few  hundred  miles  still  further  to 
the  east  of  Bristol,-  and,  including  in  our  calculation  all  the 
strata  of  secondary  rocks,  upon  which  coal  reposes  at  Bris- 
tol, and  following  up  the  same  line  of  reasoning,  upon  the 
continuous  stratification  of  the  earth,  what  would  be  the 
result  of  our  calculation  ?  What  a  deformed  and  irregular 
mass  would  a  section  of  the  globe  present,  under  such  a 
theory?  It  would,  in  some  rough  degree,  resemble  the 
effect  of  Indian  turning  on  a  watch :  the  primitive  nucleus 
of  the  globe  would  be  entirely  absorbed  by  the  irregular 
segments  of  circles  of  secondary  formation;  and  we  should 
be  utterly  at  a  loss  to  represent  the  strata  which  lie  in  a 
vertical  position. 

When  such  theories  as  the  above  can  be  proved,  to  de- 
monstration, to  be  founded  in  reason,  and  supported  hj  facts, 
the  page  of  the  Mosaic  geologist  must,  indeed,  be  forever 
closed. 

With  regard  to  the  comparative  level  of  the  extensive 
chalk  formation  of  the  north  of  France,  and  the  great  coal 
field  of  Belgium,  we  have  the  most  convincing  occular  de- 
monstration of  that  of  the  former  being  below  that  of  the 
latter.  For  if  we  follow  out  the  section  of  the  chalk  pre- 
sented to  our  view  on  the  sea  coast,  proceeding  from  Calais 
in  an  easterly  direction,  we  find  the  cliffs  becoming  gradually 
lower,  as  the  whole  country  inclines  to  a  lower  level,  until, 
at  length,  the  chalk  dips  from  our  view,  and  we  are  launched 

♦Phillip's  Outlines  of  Geology,  page  219. 
N   2 


146  GEOLOGY  OF  SCRIPTURE. 

into  that  immense  sea  of  level  alluvial  plain,  of  which  Hol- 
land and  Belgium  form  but  a  small  part.  Now,  when  we 
trace  the  borders  of  the  great  chalk  formation  in  the  north 
of  France,  proceeding  inland  from  the  neighbourhood  of 
Calais,  in  a  S.  E.  direction,  we  find,  that,  although,  from 
the  unbroken  state  of  that  country,  we  cannot  perceive  the 
actual  dip  of  the  chalk  beneath  the  alluvial  plains  of  Bel- 
gium, yet  we  must  feel  convinced,  from  the  section  of  the 
coast  which  we  had  previously  examined,  that  we  may 
assume  that  dip  with  as  much  certainty,  as  if  presented  to 
our  view  throughout  the  whole  line.  It  is  in  this  great  allu- 
vial plain,  then,  that  we  find,  in  the  neighbourhood  of  Brus- 
sels, all  those  proofs  of  diluvial  ruin,  precisely  similar  to 
what  are  presented  to  our  view  in  so  many  other  parts  of  the 
world.  We  discover,  in  great  abundance,  and  at  various 
depths,  the  remains  of  elephants,  and  other  tropical  quad- 
rupeds. We  find,  in  great  abundance,  both  coal  and 
limestone,  without  in  any  instance  having  to  pierce  the 
chalk,  which  we  had  seen  disappearing  under  the  diluvial 
strata,  with  a  gentle  dip  and  inclination.  Here,  then,  we 
have  another  convincing  proof  of  the  nature  of  the  deluge, 
and  of  the  great  chalk  formation  having  formed  at  least  one 
portion  of  the  bed  of  the  sea,  at  this  destructive  period  ;  and 
yet,  in  the  usually  received  opinions  of  geology,  the  chalk 
formation  is  placed  far  above  that  of  coal,  apparently  from  no 
better  reason,  than  that  chalk  usually  presents  an  elevation 
on  the  upper  surface,  while  coal  must  be  looked  for  at  various 
depths  helow  the  level  of  the  ground.* 

In  giving  a  faint  sketch  of  the  scene  that  must  have  been 
presented,  during  the  height  and  abatement  of  the  deluge,  I 

*  The  actual  depth  of  the  chalk  formation,  is  a  point  with  wliich 
we  are,  as  yet,  very  imperfectly  acquainted.  In  the  Isle  of  Thanet, 
in  Kent,  a  well  was  bored  for  nearly  500  feet,  in  the  idea  of  finding 
fresh  water  beneath  ;  but  as  the  chalk  and  flint  beds  were  equally 
solid  throughout,  the  attempt  was  abandoned.  This  bore  was 
continued  upwards  of  400  feet  below  the  level  of  the  sea,  and  must 
have  also  beoji  far  below  the  sea-bed  of  the  adjoining  coast  ;  for,  in 
the  straits  of  Dover,  the  greatest  depths  are  only  from  18  to  24 
fathoms,  (or  from  108  to  144  feet).  From  this  circumstance,  we 
may,  with  certainty  conclude,  that  the  chalk  formations  of  England 
and  of  France  form  one  continuous  bed  of  much  greater  depth  than 
we  can  easily  peneti'ate  ;  and  especially  as  it  does  not  offei*  the  same 
inducement  to  mining  speculations,  which  are  so  often  presented 
among  other  secondary  beds. 


GEOLOGY  OF  SCRIPTURE.  147 

had  occasion  to  notice  the  power  with  which  the  currents 
must  have  acted,  in  transporting  the  floating  remains  of  ani- 
mals and  vegetables  from  one  place  to  another,  and  the 
speculations  which  those  fossil  bodies  have  given  rise  to,  in 
these  latter  times.  There  is,  indeed,  no  part  of  geological 
research  that  appears  to  bave  been  viewed  in  a  more  false 
light,  or  that  has  given  rise  to  more  wild  and  unreasonable 
theories,  than  the  mode  of  accounting  for  the  fossil  remains 
of  tropical  productions,  in  climates  quite  uncongeuial  to  their 
support  in  a  living  state.  To  account  for  the  numerous 
remains  of  elephants  in  the  frozen  regions,  theories  have 
been  formed  to  show  that  the  climates  of  oar  planet  have 
been  changed,  by  a  change  or  position  of  the  eartb  with 
regard  to  the  sun.  Others  have  supposed,  that  the  climates 
are  now  what  they  ever  have  been,  but  that  the  animals  whose 
remains  are  now  found  in  the  north,  had  a  constitution  fitted 
to  a  polar  climate,  because  some  elephants  have  been  there 
found  to  have  hair  upon  their  bodies,  with  which  most  modern 
elephants  are  usually  very  sparingly  provided. 

The  complete  state  of  preservation  in  which  they  have 
been  found,  has  also  been  advanced  as  a  conclusive  argu- 
ment in  proof  of  their  having  lived  where  the)'^  died,  and 
having  been  suddenly  encased  in  ice,  by  which  even  their 
flesh  and  blood  have  been  completely  preserved,  like  the 
bodies  of  insects  in  amber. 

To  give  some  notion  of  the  extraordinary  grounds  upon 
which  philosophers  have  sometimes  founded  their  wild 
theories,  we  have  only  to  glance  at  the  idea  of  the  celebrated 
Buffbn,  with  regard  to  the  changes  of  the  climates  of  the 
globe ;  and  all  this  extravagance  of  theory  was  to  account 
for  the  remains  of  tropical  animals  in  frozen  regions  ;  and,  at 
the  same  time,  to  lend  a  helping  hand  to  the  ideas  respecting 
the  earth  which  he  had  previously  promulgated.  Buffon 
considered,  that  our  earth  was  nothing  more  than  a  piece 
of  the  sun,  struck  off  from  its  orb,  by  the  violent  collision 
of  a  passing  comet ;  that  it  was  driven  into  space  in  a  state 
of  red  hot  fusion,  and  thus  gradually  lost  its  native  heat ; 
that  in  process  of  time  the  latitude  of  Siberia  became  suffi- 
ciently cool  for  elephants,  and  other  animals  to  live  there  ; 
that  when  Siberia  became,  at  length,  too  cold,  they  migrated 
to  the  southward,  until  they  at  length  settled  themselves, 
and  became  confined  to  the  torrid  zones.  We  are  not  toll,  by 
this  distinguished  naturalist,  whence  the  elephants  c  )m  a  \\o\v 


148  GEOLOGY  OF  SCRIPTURE. 

the  plants  migrated,  or  how  so  many  thousands  of  elephants 
showed  so  little  of  their  celebrated  and  well  known  sagacity, 
as  to  have  permitted  themselves  to  be  caught  in  the  ice  of 
the  polar  regions.  This  theory  of  BufFon  holds  out  but  a 
melancholy  prospect  to  the  animated  beings  now  inhabiting 
the  earth ;  as,  in  process  of  time,  the  whole  must  cool 
down  to  what  the  polar  regions  now  are.  Oar  only  comfort, 
in  such  circumstances,  must  arise  from  the  millions  of  years 
which  the  great  theorist  reckoned  upon,  for  the  cooling  of  so 
large  a  mass,  and  of  which,  we  must  hope,  there  are  some 
few  thousands  yet  to  elapse. 

Such  are  the  grounds  on  which  opposition  to  the  sacred 
history  has  been  raised ! — and  this  within  the  last  half  cen- 
tury !  On  a  foundation  nearly  equally  unsound,  have  the 
subsequent  theories  of  French  geology  heen  laid.* 

As  the  whole  question  of  the  nature  of  the  deluge,  how- 
ever, may  be  said  to  turn  upon  the  subject  of  fossils,  it  must 
be  admitted  to  be  a  point  of  the  very  highest  interest,  and, 
consequently,  well  worthy  of  the  most  careful  examination. 
The  great  diffieulty  of  accounting  for  these,  and  all  other 
fossil  remains  of  tropical  productions  in  northern  latitudes^ 
appears  to  arise  from  the  constant,  but  erroneous  conception, 
that  we  are  now  living  on  the  identical  dry  land  which  existed 

*  There  cannot,  perhaps,  be  a  more  proper  place,  than,  after  the 
exhibition  of  so  impious  and  wild  a  theory  of  French  philosophy,  to 
remark  upon  the  very  common  notion,  from  time  to  time  revived 
amongst  tlie  weak  and  the  ignorant  in  Em'ope,  that  a  comet  is  to  ap- 
pear, and  to  injure,  or  uttex-ly  destroy  the  earth;  and  the  year,  and 
even  the  day,  is  sometimes  named  for  this  termination  to  our  human 
xinxieties.  This  idea  savours  much  of  that  very  fortuitous  philoso- 
phy which  we  have  found  such  reason  to  condeinn.  Can  it  be  for  a 
moment  supposed,  that  the  Providence  of  the  Almighty  Ruler  of 
the  creation  is  so  imperfect,  or  obscure,  or  the  meclianism  of  the 
universe  so  ill  regulated,  that  a  collision  can  tak«  place  between  any 
of  die  heavenly  bodies,  and  an  accident  arise  from  the  derangement 
of  the  Divine  work,  as  constantly  happens  in  the  most  perfect  of  the 
weak  inventions  of  man?  When  has  such  an  event  occurred,  in  the 
lapse  of  ages  ?  In  what  part  of  tlie  annals  of  astronomy  is  it  described  ? 
On  those  who  repose  with  confidence  in  an  All-wise  Providence,  and 
who  have  faith  in  the  inspiration  of  Scripttu'e,  and  consequently,  in 
the  unerring  truth  of  prophecy,  such  vain  alarms  will  liave  no  eifect ; 
for  they  know  that  the  foretold  events  of  Scripture  are  not  yet  nearly 
fulfilled;  and  tliat,  till  these  events  take  place,  and  while  the  earth 
remainetli,  "  seed  time  and  harvest,  and  cold  and  heat,  and  summer 
and  M inter,  and  day  and  night,  shall  not  cease."— Ge7ie«s,  viii.  22. 


GEOLOGY  OP  SCRIPTURE.  149 

before  the  flood,  and  which  the  Almighty  had  declared  he  would 
destroy,  together  with  its  inhabitants.  From  the  moment  the 
subject  is  viewed  in  a  proper  light,  and  the  conviction  is 
secured,  in  the  total  disappearance  of  the  old  lands,  and  of 
our  now  inhabiting  the  dry  bed  of  the  former  ocean,  the 
difficulties  vanish,  and  the  whole  subject  becomes  consistent 
and  clear. 

The  first  objects  in  this  inquiry  ought  to  be,  to  show,  from 
physical  facts,  that  a  mechanical  force  does  exist,  the  nature 
and  action  of  which  is,  to  transport  floating  bodies  to  a  great 
distance,  and,  in  many  cases,  in  a  northerly  direction. 

In  a  former  part  of  this  treatise,  I  have  explained,  in  a 
general  way,  the  nature  and  causes  of  the  currents  of  the 
ocean,  and  have  shown,  that  one  great  branch  flowing  west- 
ward, from  the  western  coasts  of  America  across  the  Pacific, 
passes  through  the  Chinese  seas  with  great  force,  accelerated, 
no  doubt,  by  the  opposition  it  meets  with  amongst  the  nume- 
rous points  and  islands.  Here,  then,  is  one  mechanical 
power,  by  which  floating  objects  would  be,  and  no  doubt  are, 
transported  from  one  side  of  the  great  Pacific  to  the  other. 

This  same  current,  advancing  westward  through  the  sea 
of  Bengal,  and  forced  to  double  Cape  Comorin,  on  the  south 
point  of  that  peninsula,  is  urged,  hy  the  present  form  of  the 
eastern  coast  of  Africa,  in  a  southern  direction,  whereas,  if 
this  opposing  shore  did  not  exist,  it  would  more  naturally 
flow  to  the  northward  and  ivestward,  in  the  direction  of  the 
present  European  coasts.  Here,  then,  is  another  part  of  the 
same  mechanical  power,  which,  if  not  prevented  by  the  form 
of  the  present  dry  lands,  and  left  free,  as  it  must  have  been 
at  the  period  of  the  deluge,  would  transport  floating  bodies  in 
a  direct  course  from  Asia  towards  Europe. 

If  we  still  further  follow  out  the  courses  of  the  currents, 
we  discover  another  great  branch  called  the  Gulf  Stream, 
rushing,  with  great  rapidity,  along  the  coasts  of  the  United 
States,  from  a  southern  to  a  northern  latitude,  washing  the 
coasts  of  Newfoundland  ;  from  whence  it  is  forced,  in  a  north- 
easterly direction,  across  the  Atlantic,  over  to  the  coasts  of 
Norway  and  the  British  Isles,  and  would,  no  doubt,  have 
continued  in  its  north-easterly  course,  towards  the  Arctic 
regions,  had  there  been  any  free  opening  into  the  North 
Pacific  Ocean  in  that  direction.  In  the  present  state,  how- 
ever, of  the  sea  and  land,  this  current  passes  through  the 
Bay  of  Biscay,  and  advances,  southerly,  towards  the  equa- 


150  GEOLOGY  OF  SCRIPTURE. 

tor.  Here,  again,  is  an  existing  instance  of  mechanical 
power,  by  means  of  which  floating  objects  are  now  constantly 
transported  from  the  tropical  climates  of  America  and  the  West 
Indies^  to  the  northern  shores  of  Europe. 

Mr.  Pennant,  amongst  others,  has  remarked  the  variety  of 
nuts,  and  other  vegetable  substances,  which  are  thrown  on 
the  coasts  of  Norway  and  the  Orkneys,  from  these  southern 
climes;  and  also  the  mast  of  a  British  ship  of  war,  the  Til- 
bury, which  was  burnt  at  Jamaica,  being  thrown  by  this 
current  on  the  west  em  coast  of  Scotland.  The  same  naturalist, 
also,  speaks  of  the  amazing  quantities  of  drift  wood  from 
the  American  rivers,  lodged  on  the  coasts  of  Iceland. 

In  further  proof  of  the  general  system  of  the  currents,  the 
following  instances  may  be  given,  out  of  many. 

A  bottle,  thrown  overboard  off  Cape  Farewell,  on  the 
24th  of  May,  1818,  from  the  Alexander,  (one  of  the  ships  in 
Captain  Ross's  first  voyage,  in  search  of  a  north-west  pass- 
age,) was  picked  up  on  the  Island  of  Bartragh,  in  the  Bay 
of  Killala,  in  Ireland,  on  the  17th  of  March,  1819,  having 
floated  across  the  Atlantic,  probably  at  a  rate  of  more  than 
four  miles  per  day. 

Some  casks  and  shakes,  (or  empty  casks  taken  to  pieces, 
and  packed  tight,  for  the  convenience  of  stowage,)  belonging 
to  the  Royalist  and  London  Hull  whalers,  which  were  both 
wrecked  about  latitude  61_  degrees  N.,  and  longitude  56 
degrees  W.,  in  1814  and  18*17,  were  picked  up  off  the  Butt 
of  the  Lewis,  within  a  year  of  the  time  of  these  vessels 
being  lost.  And  a  shake  that  had  belonged  to  the  London, 
was  found  drifting  through  the  Orkneys,  about  eleven 
months  after  the  loss  of  that  vessel.  It  had,  therefore, 
performed  the  passage  of  1600  nautical  miles  within  that 
time,  or,  on  an  average,  of  five  miles  per  day  ;  and,  in  this 
instance, -the  transporting  agent  must  have  been  quite  unas- 
sisted by  the  winds,  as  these  shakes  are  generally  so  soaked 
in  oil,  and  are  so  heavy,  that  they  float  almost  entirely  under 
water. — Scoresby^s  Arct.  Reg.  vol.  i.  p.  208. 

Mr.  Scoreeby,  also,  mentions  a  log  of  mahogany  which 
was  picked  up  at  sea  by  Admiral  Lowenorn,  in  1786,  when 
on  his  voyage  to  attempt  the  discovery  of  Old  Greenland. 
"This  piece  of  wood,  which  was  so  large,  that  they  were 
obliged  to  saw  it  in  two,  before  they  could  get  it  on  board, 
they  found  in  latitude  65  degrees  11  minutes  N.,  longitude  35 
degrees  8  minutes  West  of  Paris.     In  the  Danish  settlement 


GEOLOGY  OF  SCRIPTURE.  151 

of  Disco,  is  a  mahogany  table,  made  out  of  a  plank  drifted 
thither  by  the  current ;  and  it  is  now  in  the  possession  of  the 
governor.  A  tree  of  log-wood  was  also  picked  up  not  far 
from  the  same  place. 

These  logs  of  wood,  the  produce  of  the  isthmus  v/hich 
connects  North  and  South  America,  could  only  reach  the 
places  where  they  were  severally  found,  by  floating  up  the 
west  coast  of  America,  towards  the  norths  through  Behring's 
Straits,  and  so  along  the  northern  face  of  Asia  or  America, 
or  across  the  northern  pole." — Scoresby^s  Arct.  Reg.  vol.  i. 
p.  7. 

We  have  thus  distinct  instances  produced  by  the  above  en- 
lightened navigator  and  philosopher,  of  floating  bodies  being 
carried  from  an  equatorial  to  a  frozen  region.  Lieutenant 
Kotzebue  found  the  current  in  Behring's  Straits  setting  with 
great  force  to  the  north-east^  and  with  a  velocity  of  about  two 
miles  and  a  half  an  hour.  If  the  same  opportunities  were 
afforded  for  scientific  observations  on  the  transporting  effects 
of  the  currents,  in  the  southern  hemisphere,  and  in  the  un- 
explored or  barbarous  parts  of  the  northern  hemisphere, 
where  European  knowledge  has  not  yet  been  introduced,  there 
can  be  no  doubt  that  these  transporting  effects  would  be  as 
distinctly  observed  all  over  the  earth,  as  they  have  been  in 
the  above  instances.  These  are,  however,  fully  sufficient  to 
establish  the  existence  of  a  mechanical  power  of  transporta- 
tion ;  and  it  would  be  both  injudicious,  and  unnecessary,  to 
endeavour  to  account  for  all  the  individual  courses  of  the  di- 
luvial currents ;  for,  as  the  lands  by  which  these  currents  must 
have  been  influenced,  no  longer  exist,  the  attempt  could  not 
be  expected  to  terminate  in  any  certain  result. 

Having  now,  however,  found  an  agent,  by  which  floating 
bodies  are  naturally  carried  from  a  southern  to  a  northern  lat- 
itude, let  us  follow  the  course  of  any  animal  body,  such  as 
that  of  an  elephant,  when  deprived  of  life,  in  a  southern  lati- 
tude., and  left  to  the  influence  of  the  natural  currents  of  the 
ocean. 

It  is  a  well  known  part  of  the  laws  of  nature,  that  an  ani- 
mal body,  deprived  of  life  by  drowning,  at  first  generally 
sinks  by  its  own  w^eight,  and  remains  under  water,  until  the 
laws  of  decomposition  begin  to  operate.  In  the  early  course  of 
this  operation,  and  sooner,  or  later,  according  to  the  tempera- 
ture of  the  atmosphere  and  the  water,  a  quantity  of  air  becomes 


152  GEOLOGY  OF  SCRIPTURE. 

disengaged  ;*  and  by  this  air,  generated  in  the  interior  of  the 
body,  the  whole  becomes  distended  like  a  bladder,  and  rises 
to  the  surface  of  the  water,  by  the  same  laws  of  gravity  by 
which  it  had  before  sunk.  The  cause  of  this  gaseous  va- 
pour, with  which  animal  bodies  become  distended  in  the 
water,  has  not,  perhaps,  been  yet  examined  with  that  careful 
attention  which  the  subject  appears  so  well  to  merit.  It  has 
been  remarked  by  naval  men,  that  when  a  body  has  sunk  in  a 
situation  where  no  current  is  likely  to  remove  it,  it  may  be 
expected  to  appear  floating  on  the  surface,  and  in  a  shape  any 
thing  but  human,  about  the  ninth  day  after  death,  when  a  good 
look  out  is  generally  kept  for  its  recovery.  The  time  of  such 
appearance  on  the  surface,  with  regard  to  other  animals,  must, 
of  course,  depend  upon  their  size,  and  the  temperature  of  the 
water,  f 

*  "When  the  operation  of  flensing  is  completed,"  says  Mr. 
Scoresby,  "  the  tackle  by  which  the  whale  was  supported  is  removed, 
and  the  carcase,  or  ki^eng,  commonly  sinks  ;  but  sometimes  it  is  so 
swollen  by  tlie  air  produced  by  piUrefaction,  that  it  swims,  a7id  inses 
several  feet  above  the  water, — It  thus  becomes  the  food  for  bears, 
sharks,  and  various  kinds  of  fish." — Arctic  Regio7is. 

fit  is  a  singular  fact,  Avell  know  to  many  naval  men,  that  the 
bodies  of  unfortunate  individuals,  who  have  been  drowned  in  a  har- 
bour, or  other  situation,  free  from  currents,  may  be  recovered  by 
the  firing  of  cannon  in  the  immediate  neighboui-hood  of  the  spot 
•where  they  have  sunk.  Many  successful  instances  of  this  experi- 
ment have  been  mentioned  to  me  ;  and  especially  one,  wherein  the 
chaplain  and  a  whole  boat's  crew  of  the  Valiant,  w^ere  upset  in  a 
squall,  many  years  ago,  in  Torbay,  and  the  whole  unfortunate  peo- 
ple disappeared.  On  the  following  day,  an  order  was  issued  by  the 
admiral,  for  each  of  the  ships  of  the  fleet  to  fire  some  guns,  and,  in 
about  an  hour  afterwards,  the  whole  of  the  bodies,  amounting  to  12 
or  14,  were  found  floating  on  the  surface.  A  similar  trial,  attended 
by  similar  effects,  was  made  with  the  guns  of  Sir  Godfrey  Webster's 
yacht,  at  Margate,  when  the  body  of  a  boatman,  who  had  been  lost, 
was  thus  recovered.  The  idea  generally  entertained  of  the  cause  of 
this  effeet,  is,  that  the  concussion  occasioned  by  the  firing,  breaks  the 
gall-bladder,  when  a  chemical  process  takes  place,  in  which  a  quan- 
tity of  gas  is  produced,  which  swells  up  the  body,  and  causes  it  in- 
stantly to  rise  to  the  surface.  Whether  this  be  strictly  correct  or 
not,  must  be  left  for  chemists  to  decide.  This  effect  of  concussion, 
however,  certainly  deserves  more  attentive  consideration  than  it  ap- 
pears hitherto  to  have  met  with.  It  may  assist  in  leading  us  to  an 
explanation  of  the  manner  in  which  fish  are  known  to  be  aff'ected,at 
a  great  depth,  by  sounds;  as  porpoises,  dolphins,  and  other  larger 
fish,  are  known  to  be  roused  to  unusual  exertion  and  activity,  by  the 


GEOLOGY  OF  SCRIPTURE.  153 

In  the  common  course  of  things,  a  body  cannot  long  con- 
tinue in  this  floating  state,  because  it  is  immediately  attacked 
by  birds  or  fish,  and  again  sinks  to  the  bottom,  as  soon  as  the 
skin  is  broken,  and  the  air  thus  suffered  to  escape.  In  the 
interesting  accounts  of  the  whale  fisheries,  by  Mr.  Scoresby, 
we  find  that  the  bodies  of  whales  are  often  seen  in  the  man- 
ner above  described,  and  buoyed  up  by  the  air  generated  in 
the  operation  of  decomposition.  That  remarkable  whale,  the 
skeleton  of  which  has  so  lately  excited  the  wonder  and  admi- 
ration of  every  beholder  in  London,  (the  weight  of  which,  in 
an  entire  state,  was  240  tons,  or  480,000  pounds,  its  length 
being  95  feet,)  even  this  monster  of  the  deep  polar  seas,  was 
found  Jioating  on  the  surface  of  the  water,  off  the  coast  of 
Belgium,  and  was  conveyed  ashore  near  the  port  of  Ostend. 
This  whale  was,  no  doubt,  brought  into  these  temperate  re- 
gions by  one  of  the  very  currents  we  have  lately  been  consid- 
ering. When  a  whale  is  struck  dead  by  repeated  wounds  of 
the  harpoon,  its  body  often  sinks,  if  not  immediately  secured 
to  the  ship,  or  to  the  neighbouring  ice.  When  this  occurs,  a 
look  out  is  kept  for  some  days,  and  the  body  is  generally  found 
floating  on  the  surface  of  the  water,  and  attended  by  great 
flocks  of  sea  gulls,  and  sometimes  by  white  bears,  which 
soon  destroy  its  buoyant  quality,  when  it  again  sinks,  to  rise 
no  more  ;  and  we  may  easily  suppose  that  such  large  remains 
become  gradually  covered  up  by  the  marine  soils,  or  second- 
ary formations,  and  would  thus  prove  sources  of  wonder 
and  speculation,  if  there  were  a  possibility  of  their  ever  be- 
ing exposed  to  the  eyes  of  man,  which,  however,  we  know, 
from  the  very  highest  authority,  is  never  likely  to  happen,  as 
it  has  been  declared  by  the  Almighty :  "  I  will  establish  my 
covenant  with  man  ;  neither  shall  all  flesh  be  cut  off"  any 
more  by  the  waters  of  a  flood ;  neither  shall  there  any  more 
be  a  flood  to  destroy  the  earth. — Genesis,  ix.  11. 

But  during  the  awful  event  we  are  now  considering,  all  an- 
imated nature  ceased  to  exist,  and,  consequently,  the  floating 
bodies  of  the  dead  must  have  been  buoyed  up  until  the  bladders 
burst,  by  the  force  of  the  increasing  air  contained  within  them. 
The  stronger,  therefore,  the  hide  of  the  animal,  the  longer  it 
would  resist  this  internal  force;  and,  consequently,  we  can, 

firing  of  cannon.     The  subject  might  also  afford  great  additional  as- 
sistance to  the  benevolent  efforts  of  the  Royal  Humane  Society,  in 
the  recovery  of  lost  bodies. 
O 


154  GEOLOGY  OF  SCRIPTURE. 

•without  any  difficulty,  imagine  the  bodies  of  elephants,  rhi- 
noceri,  bears,  lions,  and  other  large,  coarse-skinned  animals, 
floating  upon  the  waters  for  several  weeks,  or  even  still  longer, 
if  they  were  rapidly  carried  into  a  cool  latitude. 

We  have  not  many  positive  data  on  which  to  form  a  judg- 
ment as  to  the  length  of  time  necessary  for  floating  a  body 
from  the  equatorial  to  the  more  northern  regions ;  but,  as  one 
instance,  well  authenticated,  is  as  valuable  for  our  purpose 
as  many,  I  shall  quote  that  mentioned  by  Mr.  Granville  Penn, 
of  the  "  Newcastle,  60  guns,  Captain  Fanshawe,  which  sailed 
from  Halifax,  in  Nova  Jicotia,  on  the  morning  of  the  12th  of 
December,  1821,  and  anchored  at  Spithead  on  Christmas  day, 
having  traversed  a  space  of  3000  miles  in  thirteen  days.* 
Had  it  not  been  for  an  interruption  of  forty-eight  hours,  occa- 
sioned by  contrary  winds,  this  distance  would  have  been  run 
in  eleven  days.  The  average  progress,  therefore,  was  273 
miles  in  the  twenty-four  hours ;  and  on  one  of  the  days,  the 
vessel  actually  ran  288  miles.  As  the  wind  ble\v  almost  a 
constant  hurricane,  very  Utile  sail  ivas  carried.^^'f 

We  have  here  a  recent  instance  of  a  large  floating  body 
following  the  direct  line  of  one  of  the  very  currents  which 
we  have  traced,  (assisted,  it  is  true,  by  a  high  wind,)  and 
passing  over  a  space  of  nearly  4000  miles  in  about  eleven 
days,  with  very  little  assistance  from  artificial  means.  One 
glance  at  the  map  of  the  world  will  show  that  the  same  fa- 
vourable current,  and  the  same  powerful  wind,  would,  in  a 
few  days  more,  have  carried  the  same  body  i7ito  the  polar  seas. 
Now,  from  the  latitude  of  20  degrees  north,  (or  about  the 
meridian  of  the  centre  of  Hindostan,)  to  that  of  75  degrees, 
(or  that  of  the  north  of  Nova  Zembla  and  Siberia,)  is  not 
more  than  a  distance  of  3300  miles ;  and,  therefore,  even  al- 
lowing for  a  smaller  floating  body  than  a  ship  of  war,  without 
much  sail,  we  cannot  hesitate  in  concluding  to  the  impossi- 
bility of  large  inflated  animal  bodies  remaining  entire  during 
a  longer  time  than  would  be  necessary  for  the  passage  of  this 
distance,  at  a  period  peculiarly  marked  by  storms  and  tem- 
pests. We  are  not,  however,  to  suppose  it  probable,  that  the 
greater  number  of  dead  bodies  reached  a  high  northern  lati- 

*  As  the  longitude  of  Halifax  is  68  degrees  west  of  London,  the 
direct  distance  passed  over  by  the  Newcastle,  must  be  fully  3700. 
geographical  miles,  or  nearly  1000  more  than  Mr.  Penn  has  calcu- 
lated upon. 

t  Comp.  Estim. 


GEOLOGY  OF  SCRIPTURE.  155 

tude  in  an  entire  state.  On  the  contrary,  numbers  must  have 
sunk  in  every  part  of  the  temperate  regions,  and  become  em- 
bedded, piece-meal,  in  the  rapidly  accumulating  diluvial  for- 
mations where  we  now  find  them  in  a  fossil  state.  But  it 
must  be  admitted  to  be  a  remarkably  corroborative  circum- 
stance, in  support  of  this  view  of  the  subject,  that,  as  the 
elephant,  the  hippopotamus  and  rhinoceros,  are  the  animals, 
of  all  others,  we  should  expect  to  float  longest  in  an  entire 
state,  from  the  great  strength  and  thickness  of  their  skins,  so 
they  are  the-very  animals  now  found  in  such  vast  numbers  in 
the  frozen  regions,  as  to  make  their  ivory  a  very  considerable 
and  valuable  branch  of  northern  commerce. 


CHAPTER  X. 

High  Importance  of  the  Evidence  of  Fossils. — Siberian  Mam- 
moth. — The  entire  Elephant  of  the  Lena. — Theories  founded 
on  this  Specimen,  unsupported  hy  facts. — Consistent  mode  of 
accounting  for  Tropical  Productions  in  Cold  Climates. — Un- 
changed condition  of  the  Climates  of  the  Earth. — Italian 
Deposits. — Monte  Bolca. — Fossils  mi  the  Coast  of  Norfolk. — 
Formations  of  the  South  of  England. — The  same  View  ex- 
tended to  the  Continent. 

We  may  now  proceed  to  the  consideration  of  some  of  the  most 
remarkable  fossil  remains  of  quadrupeds  that  have  been  found 
in  the  temperate  regions,  and  in  such  quantities  in  high 
northern  latitudes,  as  to  have  given  rise  to  much  speculation 
and  vague  theory  amongst  philosophers,  respecting  the  means 
by  which  they  came  into  their  present  unnatural  situations. 

The  bones  of  large  quadrupeds  have  been  observed,  more 
or  less,  in  all  the  quarters  of  the  globe,  where  any  attention 
has  been  paid  to  the  search  for  them.  In  early  times  they 
were  considered  as  the  bones  of  the  giants  which  were  sup- 
posed to  have  formerly  inhabited  the  earth.  As  mankind 
became  more  enlightened,  these  absurd  opinions  gave  place 
to  something  nearer  approaching  the  truth :  it  is,  however, 
only  within  the  last  half  century  that  science  has  applied 
that  attention  to  the  subject,  of  which  it  is  so  highly  deserv- 
ing ;  though  the  number  of  different  opinions  relating  to  these 
animal  remains,  proves  how  uncertain  philosophers  still  are 
respecting  them.  The  great  attention  of  late  paid  to  com- 
parative anatomy,  more  especially  in  France,  under  that 
distinguished  naturalist,  the  late  Baron  Cuvier,  has  greatly 
increased  our  knowledge  of  the  different  classes  of  animals, 


GEOLOGY  OP  SCRIPTURE.  157 

the  remains  of  which  are  now  found  in  the  earth.  But  the 
geological  views  of  that  eminent  man  by  no  means  kept  pace 
with  his  zoological  and  anatomical  knowledge.  His  theo- 
ries of  the  earth,  though  exhibiting  much  talent,  are  all 
formed  upon  those  very  principles  of  secondary  causes  which 
we  have  found  to  be  so  objectional  and  unsound.  His  nu- 
tnerous  revolutions,  his  alternate  salt  and  fresh  water  deluges,  all 
bespeak  the  school  from  which  he  derived  his  earliest  geo- 
logical ideas,  and  of  which  he  himself  latterly  became  the 
head.  We  cannot,  therefore,  with  any  consistency,  or  hope 
of  profitable  instruction,  follow  the  track  by  which  he  would 
lead  us  to  the  origin  of  these  fossil  remains. 

It  is  in  the  arctic  and  north  polar  regions  of  the  earth,  that 
some  of  the  most  remarkable  and  best  preserved  of  these 
fossil  remains  have  been  discovered.  There  cannot,  how- 
ever, be  a  doubt,  that  if  the  south  polar  regions  were  equally 
accessible,  we  should  also  find  their  icy  masses  charged  with 
the  remains  of  the  antediluvian  dead.  In  Siberia,  that  barren 
region,  so  associated  in  our  minds  with  tyrannical  cruelty, 
solitude  and  desolation,  where 


neque  ullae 


Aut  herbse  campo  apparent  aut  arbore  frondes  : 
Sed  jacet  aggeribus  niveis  informis  et  alto 
Terra  gelu  late, 
Semper  hiems,  semper  spirantes  frigoi*a  cauri, 

the  great  steppes,  or  plains,  formed  of  a  sandy  and  gravelly 
soil,  intermixed  with  salt  lakes,  contain  such  quantities  of  the 
remains  of  elephants,  that  the  fossil  ivory  forms  a  highly 
important  and  valuable  branch  of  commerce.  The  natives  of 
that  country  have  given  the  name  of  mammoth,  or  the  mole, 
to  these  fossil  elephants ;  and,  however  strange  it  may  appear, 
they  look  upon  them  as  the  bodies  of  animals  now  living 
under  the  ground;  which  idea  is,  however,  founded  on  ap- 
pearances and  facts  which  render  it  in  some  sort  plausible. 
For  those  who  inhabit  the  northern  regions,  frequently  find 
the  remains  of  these  large  bodies  still  fresh  and  bloody,-  and 
as  no  such  animals  are  ever  seen  on  the  surface  of  the  ground 
in  those  regions,  it  is  not  urmatural  for  the  ignorant  peasants 
to  suppose  them  to  be  a  species  of  gigantic  mole,  which  still 
lives  and  burrows  in  the  earth.  The  able  historian,  Miiller, 
who  resided  at  Moscow  in  1779,  admitted  that  he  was  of  the 
same  opinion. 
o  2 


158  GEOLOGY  OF  SCRIPTURE. 

About  the  year  1799,  a  large  object  was  observed  by  some 
fishermen,  near  the  mouth  of  the  Lena,  on  the  coast  of  the 
Arctic  ocean,  to  project  from  an  icy  bank,  but  beyond  the 
reach  of  examination.  For  several  following  seasons  the 
same  object  wbs  remarked,  and  every  year  a  little  more  dis- 
engaged from  its  icy  bed,  by  the  slow  melting  of  the  ice 
during  the  short  summers.  At  length,  in  1803,  it  became 
entirely  detached,  and  the  enormous  carcase  of  a  mammoth 
fell  upon  the  sand  bank  below.  This  remarkable  specimen 
was  quite  entire  when  it  first  fell,  and  the  flesh  so  well  pre- 
served that  it  was  greedily  devoured  by  the  white  bears,  and 
by  the  dogs  of  the  fishermen.*  In  1806,  the  remains  of  this 
carcase  were  examined  by  Mr.  Adams,  a  member  of  the 
academy  of  St.  Petersburgh,  when  the  greater  part  of  the 
bones,  and  a  large  portion  of  the  skin  yet  remained.  The 
brain  was  then  still  within  the  skull,  but  shrunk  and  dried 
up ;  and  one  of  the  ears  was  well  preserved,  retaining  a  tuft 
of  strong  bristly  hair.  The  animal  was  a  male,  and  is  de- 
scribed as  having  had  a  sort  of  mane  on  its  neck.  As  the 
description  of  Mr.  Adams,  however,  was  given  nearly  three 
years  after  the  body  fell  on  the  sands,  and  as  it  had  been  par- 
tially exposed  to  the  atmosphere  during  several  years  more, 
there  can  be  little  doubt  that,"  if  it  had  been  dug  out  of  its 
icy  bed  when  first  seen  in  1799,  we  should  have  had  a  com- 
plete and  minute  description  and  drawing  of  one  species  oi 
the  antediluvian  elephant. 

Much  stress  has  been  laid  by  naturalists,  whose  theories 
of  the  earth  required  the  aid  of  such  evidence,  on  the  remark- 
able shaggy  coat  of  hair,  with  a  species  of  wool  at  the  roots, 
with  which  this  antediluvian  elephant  was  clothed ;  and  it 
has  been  advanced,  as  a  positive  proof  of  the  animal  having 
lived  where  his  remains  were  discovered;  and,  consequently,  that 

*  It  may  appear  to  some,  an  improbable  part  of  the  history  of  this 
remarkable  fossil,  that  any  animal  substance  could  have  so  long 
resisted  decomposition,  when  acted  upon  by  a  solar  heat,  capable  of 
melting  the  ice  in  which  it  was  embedded.  But  it 'must  be  con- 
sidered, that,  in  those  high  nortliern  latitudes,  as  in  the  great  at- 
mospheric elevations  of  mountain  ridges,  in  the  regions  of  eternal 
snow,  the  air  is  of  so  rare  and  dry  a  nature,  that  the  decomposition 
of  animal  substances  can  scarcely  take  place  under  any  circum- 
stances. It  is  true,  that  the  direct  rays  of  the  sun  act,  in  such  situa- 
tions, for  a  short  time,  with  great  power.  But  a  general  heat  is 
never  produced,  such  as  occasions  rapid  fermentation  in  the  equa- 
torial and  temperate  regions. 


GEOLOGY  OF  SCRIPTURE.  159 

he,  and  thousands  of  the  same  unwieldly  race,  the  fossil  bones 
of  which  are  now  found  in  such  surprising  quantities  in  the 
north,  were  all  the  natural  i?ihabitants  of  these  sterile  regions, 
where  no  appearance  of  vegetation  for  their  support  is  ever 
now  produced.*     But  notwithstanding  this  thick  coat  of  hair 
and  wool,  we  have  not  a  shadow  of  ground  for  supposing  the 
animal  which  it  covered,  ever  to  have  been  a  native  of  the 
frozen  regions;  because,  in  their  present  state,  the  soils  of 
those  climates  do  not  produce  the  food  necessary  even  for 
the  smallest   graminivorous  animals,  much  less,  then,  for 
creatures  of  the  size  of  the  elephant,  which  are  known  to  re- 
quire the  most  luxuriant  forest  scenery  for  their  habitation. 
It  is  admitted  that  no  such  scenery  exists  within  many  degrees 
of  latitude  of  the  Arctic  ocean ;  and  it  must,  therefore,  follow, 
that  no  such  animals  could  find  the  necessary  sustenance  there, 
in  the  present  state  of  the  world.     This  difficulty  is,  however, 
easily  overcome  by  those  who  insist  on  the  mammoth  having 
been  a  native  of  the  countries  where  we  now  find  its  remains. 
For  they  immediately  change  the  position  of  the  globe,  and 
endeavour  to  show,  that  what  are  now  the  frozen  poles,  were 
made  so  by  some  unexplained  convulsion,  after  having  en- 
joyed all  the  luxuries  of  a  tropical  climate;  and  they  further 
endeavour  to  prove,  that  this  convulsion  must  have  been  quite 
sudden,  as  the  flesh  and  blood  of  this  fossil  elephant  were 
still  preserved  entire.     The  supposed  suddenness  of  this  sup- 
posed convulsion,  however,  proves  more  than  is  demanded  or 
desired  by  these  theorists ;  for,  if  this  elephant,  together  with 
the  very  great  number  of  elephants  and  rhinoceri,  whose  re- 
mains are  found  in  such  quantities  all  over  the  frozen  zone, 

*  I  have  seen  the  highly  interesting  portion  of  the  skin  and  hair  of 
this  specimen,  which  was  sent  to  Sir  Josei^h  Banks,  and  is  now  in 
the  museum  of  the  Royal  College  of  Surgeons  in  London.  The  skin 
is  fully  half  an  inch  in  thickness,  in  its  dry  and  hard  state,  and  must 
have  originally  been  nearly  an  inch  thick,  and  of  prodigious  strength. 
The  hair  is  of  three  kinds,  probably  taken  from  dift'erent  parts  of 
the  body.  The  longest  is  about  a  foot  in  length,  of  the  nature  of  a 
thick  bristle,  and  black  in  colour.  The  tufts  of  the  second  are  of  a 
dark  chesnut  colour,  about  four  or  five  inches  long,  and  of  about  the 
coarseness  of  the  mane  of  a  horse.  The  third  kind  of  hair  is  of  a 
dirty  yellowish  tint,  and  not  more  than  about  an  inch  long,  closely 
covering  the  skin  at  the  roots  of  the  longest  coat.  Upon  the  whole, 
this  hair  presents  us  with  the  idea  of  a  very  rough  and  shaggy  ani- 
mal, of  a  dark  brown,  or  chesnut  colour,  approaching  to  black,  and 
u'hich  must,  indeed,  have  exhibited  a  frightful  appearance. 


160  GEOLOGY  OF  SCRIPTURE. 

were  suddenly  encased  in  ice,  and  thus,  from  that  instant, 
preserved  as  entire  as  insects  found  in  amber,  why  is  it  that 
we  do  not  find,  in  the  descriptions  of  these  icy  masses,  any 
mention  made  of  the  quantities  of  vegetable  productions  amongst 
which  they  must  have  lived,  and  which  would  equally  have 
been  preserved  in  the  most  perfect  manner]  We  should,  in 
such  a  case,  have  expected  to  have  found,  on  the  shores  of 
the  icy  ocean,  a  complete  antediluvian  herbal,  which  would 
have  settled  all  discussions  respecting  fossil  vegetables 
found  in  other  parts  of  the  earth.  We  can  in  no  way  con- 
ceive a  convulsion  taking  place,  to  produce  suddenly.,  such 
effects  as  exist  at  the  poles,  without  freezing  up,  and  preserv- 
ing entire,  the  forests  and  jungles,  as  well  as  the  wild  beasts 
contained  in  them :  nor  is  it  in  the  least  degree  probable,  that 
the  elephants  and  rhinoceri  would  have  been  singled  out  for 
preservation,  amongst  all  the  numerous  species  of  animals 
which  inhabited  the  same  forests  as  themselves,  whilst  al- 
most every  other  creature  was  suffered  to  escape. 

"  There  is  not,"  says  Pallas,  "  in  all  Asiatic  Russia,  from 
the  Don,  to  the  extremity  of  the  promontory  of  Tchutchis,  a 
stream  or  river,  in  the  banks  of  which  they  do  not  find  ele- 
phants, and  other  large  animals^  now  strangers  to  that  cli- 
mate."* We  no  where  hear,  however,  of  either  fossil  or 
recent  luxuriance  of  vegetation  in  these  inhospitable  regions, 
nor  have  we  the  smallest  ground  to  conclude,  that  they  have 
ever  been  less  rigid  than  they  now  are,  since  the  creation  of 
the  world  ;  nor,  consequently,  that  elephants,  or  other  tropi- 
cal productions,  animal  or  vegetable,  could  ever  have  found 
subsistence  there  for  a  single  day  :  nor  will  the  undisputed 
fact  of  an  elephant  having  hair  on  its  body,  afford  us  any 
conviction  of  its  ever  having  inhabited  so  cold  a  climate  :  for 
though  most  of  the  present  known  species  have  but  little 
hair,  many  of  the  most  shaggy  animals  are  natives  of  the 
tropics. 

Pallas,  in  his  Memoir  on  the  remarkable  fossils  with 
which  Siberia  abounds,  describes  having  there  discovered 
an  entire  rhinoceros,  the  skin  and  flesh  of  which  were  pre- 
served in  ice,  in  the  same  manner  as  the  specimen  of  the 
mammoth  which  we  have  now  been  considering  :  hut  we  do 
not  find  that  this  specimen  was  covered  with  a  coat  of  hair. 
Nor    is   it   likely  that   so   unusual   a   circumstance,  had  it 

*  Beliq.  Dihiv.  p.  185. 


GEOLOGY  OF  SCRIPTURE.  161 

existed,  would  have  escaped  particular  remark  and  descrip- 
tion by  this  philosopher. 

To  those  who  have  well  considered  the  condition  of  the 
earth  at  the  period  of  the  deluge,  which  has  been  so  lately- 
discussed,  there  can  be  no  difficulty  in  accounting  for  the 
numerous  fossil  remains  of  tropical  plants  and  animals  every 
were  found,  more  or  less,  in  the  upper  strata  of  the  globe ; 
and  that  such  remains  should  have  been  preserved  entire  in 
the  frozen  regions,  towards  which,  I  have  shown,  they  would 
naturally  be  carried  by  some  of  the  currents  of  the  ocean,  is 
only  a  consequence  to  be  as  naturally  expected  from  such 
transportation.  We  must  feel  satisfied,  that  the  elephant 
and  rhinoceros  would  be,  of  all  animals,  the  most  likely  to 
Jloat  longest,  from  their  great  bulk,  and  the  strength  and 
thickness  of  their  skin.*  If  we  follow  the  track  which  such 
large  floating  bodies  must  have  taken,  in  a  current  flowing 
directly  from  the  tropical  to  the  northern  latitudes ;  and  if  we 
consider  that  a  very  few  weeks  would,  at  the  utmost,  be  neces- 
sary for  their  transport,  as  has  been  shown  by  the  passage 
of  a  vessel,  carrying  little  sail,  over  nearly  4000  miles  in  a 
similar  course,  in  eleven  days,  we  shall  feel  convinced  of  the 
possibility  of  their  having  been,  in  many  instances,  lodged 
in  the  icy  regions  of  the  north,  with  their  skins  entire,  and 
their  flesh  and  blood,  consequently,  preserved. 

That  those  regions  were  then  as  cold  as  at  the  present  day, 
is  distinctly  proved  by  the  condition  of  the  bodies  themselves, 
which,  with  their  icy  covering,  must  be  in  exactly  the  same 
state  as  when  embedded  four  thousand  years  ago.  Why  is  it 
only  in  the  colder  regions  that  the  Jlesh  of  these  animals  has 
been  preserved,  while  in  Britain,  and  in  the  other  temperate 
climates,  nothing  but  the  bones  remain,  and  generally  in  a 
detached  and  broken  state  ?  It  is  clear,  that  in  the  one  case, 
the  higher  temperature  of  the  soil  has  caused  the  decompo- 
sition of  the  softer  parts  ;  while  in  the  other,  the  frozen  state 
of  the  earth,  at  the  depth  of  a  foot  or  two,  even  in  the  heat 

*  In  Siberia,  there  are  found  the  fossil  remains  of  buffaloes,  of  a 
very  great  size,  and  said  to  be  larger  tlian  any  existing  known  spe- 
cies. But  this  latter  fact  we  have  every  reason  to  doubt.  Mankind 
are  at  all  times  fond  of  the  marvellous  ;  and  without  recent  bones, 
with  which  to  make  the  comparison,  tliose  of  the  fossil  buffaloe  must 
appear  very  great.  The  fact  is,  that  there  are  few  quadrupeds  of  a 
more  unwieldy  growth,  than  the  full  grown  buffaloe  in  its  native 
tropical  climate. 


162  GEOLOGY  OF  SCRIPTURE. 

of  the  short  summers,  has  prevented  decay  ;*  and  it  must  he 
equally  evident,  to  an  unprejudiced  mind,  that,  in  the  course 
and  prevalence  of  the  waters  upon  the  earth,  and  in  so  com- 
plete a  wreck  of  animated  beings,  numberless  bodies  of 
every  kind  must  have  sunk  and  gone  to  pieces,  and  have 
become  subject  to  the  same  laws  of  gravity  and  of  fluids,  by 
which  we  have  seen  that  all  movable  bodies  become  classed 
and  arranged  in  the  bed  of  the  ocean ;  while  those  that  were 
floated  off  by  more  rapid  portions  of  the  currents,  reached  a 
higher  latitude  in  a  more  entire  state,  where  their  subsequent 
preservation  must  have  depended  upon  the  temperature  of 
the  climates,  where  they  became  embedded. 

It  appears  certain,  then,  that  on  the  subsiding  of  the 
waters  of  the  deluge  into  their  new  bed,  the  floating  bodies, 
in  the  northern  regions,  must  have  been  stranded  on  the 
gravelly  and  sandy  bottom  of  what  was  formerly  the  bed  of 
the  antediluvian  sea;  that  they  were,  in  many  cases,  sunk  at 
various  depths  in  this  soft  soil,  agitated  as  its  surface  must 
have  been  by  the  slowly  retiring  waters  ;  that  the  inclemency 
of  the  north  soon  congealed  into  ice  the  moisture  that  was 
not  quickly  drained  off  upon  the  surface  ;  and  that  the  bodies 
so  hermetrically  sealed  up,  have  remained  in  the  precise  con- 
dition in  which  they  chanced  to  be,  not  only  until  our  days, 
but  will  be  preserved  for  any  length  of  time,  unless  brought 
within  the  action  of  the  atmosphere  by  the  mechanical  fric- 
tion of  rivers,  or  by  other  natural  causes.  It  is  also  certain, 
that  all  other  embedded  bodies,  such  as  vegetable  produc- 

*  In  the  frozen  regions,  and  near  the  poles,  the  heat  of  the  sun, 
even  during  an  unceasing  day  of  several  montlis  duration,  lias  so 
little  power,  that,  at  whatever  depths  trials  have  been  made,  the 
fissures  in  the  rocks  have  always  been  found  filled  with  ice,  as  eternal 
as  that  on  the  tops  of  the  highest  mountains.  M.  Patrin,  who  spent 
many  years  in  Siberia,  found  this  to  be  the  ease,  on  descending  tlie 
mines  of  that  country. 

"  The  antiseptical  effect  of  cold,  in  tlie  polar  countries,  on  animal 
and  vegetable  substances,  is  such  as  to  preserve  them  unchanged  for 
a  period  of  many  years.  An  instance  corroborative  of  this  remark, 
is  given  by  M.  Bleau,  who,  in  his  Atlas  Historique,  informs  us,  that 
the  bodies  of  seven  Dutch  seamen,  who  perished  in  Spitzbergen,  in 
1635,  were  found  twenty  years  afterwards  in  a  pei'fect  state,  not 
having  suffered  the  smallest  degree  of  putrefaction." — "  Wood,  and 
other  vegetable  substances  are  presei'ved  in  a  similar  manner. 
Things  of  this  nature  have  been  met  with  in  Spitzbergen,  which 
have  resisted  all  injury  from  the  weather  dui'ing  the  lapse  of  a  cen- 
tiu-y." — Scoresby^s  Arct.  Reg.  vol.  ii.  p.  344. 


GEOLOGY  OF  SCRIPTURE.  163 

tions,  would  have  been  equally  well  preserved,  both  in 
substance-,  and  in  colour^  had  they  existed  in  any  great  quan- 
tity, as  in  their  natural  soils  ;  and,  that  as  no  such  vegetable 
productions  are  found  in  the  ice  of  the  north,  we  must  con- 
clude, that  the  northern  regions  never  were  different  in  cli- 
mate from  what  they  are  at  present;  and,  consequently,  that 
they  have  always  been  equally  unfitted  for  the  support  of 
both  the  animal  and  vegetable  world.* 

The  conclusion  at  which  we  thus  unavoidably  arrive,  with 
respect  to  any  one  fossil  body,  in  the  condition  of  the  mam- 
moth in  ice,  at  the  mouth  of  the  Lena,  involves  the  history 
of  almost  all  the  fossil  remains  of  quadrupeds  found  in  the 
alluvial  soils  in  every  quarter  of  the  world.  For  if  we  can, 
in  any  one  instance^  prove  that  a  production  of  a  southern  lati- 
tude has  been  transported  to  one  very  far  to  the  north,  in  so 
short  a  space  of  time  as  to  have  its  most  destructible  parts 
perfectly  preserved,  we  cannot  stop  short  in  our  conclusions  : 
we  cannot  suppose  that  to  be  a  solitary  instance.  On  the 
contrary,  we  must  attribute  all  fossil  remains,  both  of  ani- 
mals and  vegetables,  now  found  in  climates  uncongenial  to 
them,  to  the  powerful  agency  of  the  same  mechanical  law. 
What,  then,  becomes  of  the  lions,  tigers,  hyaenas,  elephants, 
crocodiles,  tortoises,  and  other  animals  of  tropical  regions, 
whose  remains  are  now  found  in  every  land  indiscriminately, 
and  often  in  confused  heaps,  deeply  buried,  in  what  was 
once  the  muddy  sediment  of  a  deluge,  but  now  hardened  into 
calcareous  or  other  secondary  rocks,  and  worked  into  cavities 
probably  in  the  course  of  dessication  ?  Are  we  to  conclude, 
from  the  entire  elephant  found  near  the  pole,  which  we  feel 
satisfied  could  not  have  lived  within  many  degrees  of  latitude 
of  where  his  remains  were  discovered,  that  all  the  polar  and 
temperate  latitudes  of  the  earth  were  once  inhabited  by  a 

*  It  is  much  to  be  resetted,  that  the  countries  in  which  tliese 
most  interesting  and  well-preserved  specimens  of  fossil  animal  re- 
mains are  alone  to  be  found,  are  so  situated,  as  to  be  beyond  the 
convenient  reach  of  philosophic  eyes.  For,  although  we  only  hear 
of  the  huge  remains  of  the  larger  animals,  because  they  naturally 
make  the  gi^eatest  impression  upon  the  uncivilized  peasants  who  dis- 
cover them,  there  can  be  no  doubt  that  the  frozen  regions  must 
contain  many  other  equally  interesting  and  highly  preserved  remains, 
lodged  by  the  diluvial  cui-rents  :  and  it  is  probable,  that  if  any  journey 
were  undertaken  to  the  shores  of  the  Frozen  Ocean,  for  the  express 
purpose  of  such  research,  the  discoveries  would  amply  repay  tlie 
enterprise  and  ti'ouble  bestowed  on  the  undertaking. 


164  GEOLOGY  OF  SCRIPTURE. 

class  of  beings  now  unnatural  to  them  ?  or  because  palm 
trees  and  cocoa  nuts  are  now  found,  in  a  fossil  state,  in  the 
strata  of  Britain,  that  they  formerly  grew  there"?*  No.  We 
are  forcibly  and  irresistibly  drawn  to  a  directly  opposite  con- 
clusion, by  the  concurrent  evidence  both  of  history,  and  of 
physical  facts.  We  mu&t  feel  a  conviction,  as  strong  as  is 
possible,  in  any  case,  of  which  we  have  not  had  occular 
proof,  that  the  same  mechanical  power  which  transported  the 
mammoth  of  the  Lena  from  its  natural  climate,  to  its  icy  bed 
in  the  frozen  zone,  must  have  also  brought  along  with  it,  all 
the  various  fossil  productions  found  in  climates  which  would 
now  be  uncongenial  to  their  support,  j" 

By  the  same  line  of  reasoning,  we  are  led  to  the  solution 
of  what  has  been  one  of  the  leading  subjects  of  discussion 
amongst  philosophers  for  the  last  century  ;  that  is,  the  re- 
markable accumulation  of  fossil  remains  at  Monte  Bolca, 
near  Verona,  in  Italy.  This  deposit  may  certainly  be  regard- 
ed as  one  of  the  most  interesting  now  known  ;  and  from  the 
attention  which  has  been  paid  to  it,  and  the  care  and  expenee 
bestowed  upon  the  collection  of  its  fossil  treasures,  there  are 
few  with  which  we  are  better  acquainted.  The  district,  of 
which  Bolca  forms  a  part,  is  calcareous,  and  tjie  quarries  in 
which  the  most  remarkable  impressions  of  fisith  are  found, 

*  Upwards  of  500  kinds  of  seeds  and  fruits,  many  of  which  ai-e 
now  confined  to  tropical  climates,  have  been  found  in  the  diluvial  de- 
posits in  the  Isle  ot'  Sheppey,  on  the  Thames  ;  and  they  are  there 
associated  with  numbers  of  animal  remains,  of  elephants,  and  other 
tropical  quadrupeds.  In  Professor  Buckland's  collection,  at  Ox- 
ford, there  are  fossil  and  recent  cones,  of  immense  size  ;  the  form- 
er from  the  Portland  quarries,  the  latter  from  a  tropical  climate. 

+  "  In  the  valley  of  the  Arno,  parts  of  the  skeletons  of  at  least  a 
hundred  hippopotami  have  been  discovered.  With  these  were  also 
found,  in  great  abundance,  the  remains  of  rhinoceros  and  elephant, 
together  with  those  of  horses,  oxen,  several  species  of  deer,  hysena, 
bear,  tiger,  fox,  wolf,  mastodon,  hog,  tapir,  and  beaver  ;  they  are 
from  animals  of  all  ages,  and  one  of  the  elephants  could  not  have 
been  a  week  old." — Reliquiae  Diluv.  p.  182. 

The  latter  part  of  the  above  passage,  respecting  an  elephant  of  not 
more  than  a  week  old,  is  probably  intended  as  conclusive  evidence 
of  its  having  been  born  in  Italy.  But  it  is  obvious,  that  the  over- 
whelming calamity  which  deprived  its  mother  of  life,  in  a  tropical 
climate,  could  not  be  expected  to  respect  its  tender  age,  but  would, 
on  the  contrary,  transport  its  remains  to  the  latitude  of  the  banks  of 
the  Arno,  with  as  little  difficulty  or  pity,  as  those  of  the  still  smaller 
animals,  whose  remains  are  now  associated  with  it 


GEOLOGY  OP  SCRIPTURE.  165 

consist  of  a  stone  of  a  schistose  structure,  and  susceptible  of 
being  split  into  laminae,  or  flags,  of  various  dimensions.  It 
is  called,  by  mineralogists,  a  marl,  or  marley  schist,  and  is 
of  a  yellow,  white,  or  bluish  gray  colour. 

The  most  remarkable  fossils  of  this  deposit  consist  offish, 
in  a  highly  preserved  state.  In  some  collections  that  have 
been  made  from  these  quarries,  there  are  from  600  to  800 
specimens  of  various  sorts,  and  of  every  size,  from  being 
almost  invisible,  up  to  four  feet  in  length.  Some  of  the  spe- 
cies, which  have,  in  all,  been  calculated  at  about  70,  are  re- 
cognized as  being  fish  of  the  Mediterranean  sea ;  others  have 
been  supposed  to  be  now  peculiar  to  the  Pacific,  and  other 
southern  waters.     Some,  however,  are  totally  unknown. 

This  extraordinary  deposit  of  fish  has  been  the  occasion  of 
much  speculation,  and  of  many  theories  amongst  naturalists, 
to  account  for  its  present  elevation  above  the  sea  ;  and,  like 
that  of  elephants  in  the  polar  regions,  authors  have  endeav- 
oured to  account  for  it  in  various  ways.  The  most  generally 
received  opinion  is,  though  opposed  by  the  most  glaring  in- 
consistencies, that,  as  a  fish  could  not  be  so  well  preserved 
as  those  of  Monte  Bolca,  unless  thrown  into  their  present 
position  in  a  sudden  manner,  their  destruction  must  have  been 
occasioned  by  a  submarine  volcano,  before  the  great  revolu- 
tion happened,  by  which  the  present  lands  of  Italy  became 
elevated  above  the  present  seas.*     It  has  been  too  often  the 

♦Amongst  other  proofs  that  the  deposits  in  Monte  Bolca  were 
caused  by  a  sudden  revolution,  we  find  an  instance  quoted,  of  a  fish 
having  another  in  its  mouth,  yet  unsxvalloived ;  while  others  have  the 
undigested  reiTiains  of  the  stomach  still  visible.  Had  those  instan- 
ces related  to  land  animah,  instead  of  to  fishes,  who  were  naturally- 
enjoying  their  own  proper  element,  up  to  the  very  moment  when  the 
tides  or  the  cm-rents  caused  them  to  be  suddenly  overwhelmed  by 
the  muddy  diluvial  sediments,  we  should  have  at  once  ackiiowledged 
the  force  of  the  conclusion.  But  we  have,  in  this,  a  remarkable 
proof,  that  a  great  proportion  of  tlie  inhabitants  of  the  deep  must 
have  been  pi-eserved  alive  at  a  time  when  almost  all  productions  of 
the  land  were  consigned  to  destruction.  Had  not  this  been  the  case, 
■we  must  have  found  the  fossil  impressions  of  fish,  in  almost  every 
direction,  in  om-  diluvial  strata.  But  it  is  a  well  known  fact,  tbat 
fish,  though  abundant  in  some  particular  spots,  are  by  no  means  com- 
mon as  fossils.  In  Dr.  Buckland's  fine  cabinet  of  fossils,  there  is  a 
good  impression  of  a  part  of  a  large  fish,  witli  the  scales  of  an  un- 
digested meal  visible  through  tlie  ribs.  I  believe  this  specimen  is 
from  Shotover,  near  Oxford,  which  lias  never  been  looked  upon  as 
a  stidden  formation. 
P 


166  GEOLOGY  OF  SCRIPTURE. 

custom  to  resort  to  volcanic  agency,  with  regard  to  Italy  in 
general,  and  to  any  such  difficulties  as  were  occasioned  by 
Monte  Bolca,  in  particular.  The  fact  is,  that  few  countries 
present  more  calcareous  appearances  than  Italy ;  the  greater 
part  of  the  whole  ridge  of  the  Apennines,  is  composed  of 
limestone  and  marbles  of  various  kinds  ;  and  the  existence  of 
volcanic  action,  in  such  extensive  secondary  formations,  as 
are  found  in  Italy,  exactly  corresponds  with  what  has  been 
already  remarked  respecting  volcanoes  in  general,  and  Iceland 
in  particular,  in  an  early  part  of  this  treatise.  But  about 
Verona,  the  whole  country  is  calcareous,  and  Monte  Bolca  is 
admitted  to  be  so,  notwithstanding  the  above  mentioned  com- 
mon opinion. 

But  we  are  led  to  the  solution  of  this  fossil  mystery,  by 
the  same  steps  which  guide  us  in  our  researches  in  other 
countries  ;  and  we  thus  find  that  Monte  Bolca  is  only  peculiar 
in  the  quantity  and  beauty  of  its  specimens,  and  not  in  the 
manner  in  which  they  were  deposited.  When  we  hear  of 
Monte  Bolca,  the  idea  of  petrified  Jish  instantly  presents  itself 
to  the  mind,  so  much  more  numerous  are  they  than  other  fos- 
sils. But  other  fossils,  nevertheless,  exist ;  and  such  as  are 
totally  inconsistent  with  volcanic  origin,  under  the  waters  of 
the  sea.  The  bones  of  huge  elephants,  stags,  and  bears,  and 
likewise  those  of  the  intermediate  tribe,  the  pliocx^  have  been 
discovered;  besides  many  terrestrial ^/anfs,  birds^  2ind insects. 

Here  are  evidences  of  diluvial  origin,  as  clear  as  can  be 
produced  from  any  region  of  the  earth ;  and  the  presence  of 
the  bones  of  elephants,  or  of  other  large  quadrupeds,  such  as 
are  found  in  the  polar  regions,  surrounded,  as  in  this  instance, 
by  marine  animals,  connect  the  two  in  a  manner  the  most  con- 
clusive, and  tend  to  the  same  point  to  which  the  Geology  of 
Scripture,  in  all  its  parts,  so  consistently  leads  us.  It  is  not, 
therefore,  necessary,  in  such  individual  cases  as  we  are.  now 
considering,  to  account  for  the  accidental  circumstances, 
which  must  have  occasioned,  in  one  instance,  a  preponder- 
ance of  terrestrial,  and  in  another,  that  of  marine  animal  re- 
mains, in  detached  deposits.  It  is  sufficient  for  the  support 
of  the  general  system  which  we  are  now  considering,  that, 
in  almost  all  instances  of  fossil  remains  of  quadrupeds,  the  two 
are  more  or  less  blended  together,  and  in  a  manner  to  lead  to 
the  instant  conviction,  that  sea  and  land  productions  had,  by 
some  means  or  other,  become  indiscriminately  confused  ;  and 
that  they  were  thus  left  in  a  dry  state  by  the  retiring  waters, 


GEOLOGY  OP  SCRIPTURE.  167 

the  action  and  circulation  of  which  had  been  the  agent  in  this 
unnatural  combination.  The  Mosaic  History  is  alone  capa- 
ble of  clearing-  up  the  obscurity  of  such  phenomena ;  and  it 
does  clear  away  all  difficulties  in  a  manner  the  most  satisfac- 
tory to  the  reason  and  understanding. 

It  may  almost  be  considered  unnecessary  to  proceed  further 
in  the  production  of  proofs  of  diluvial  effects  upon  animal 
and  vegetable  productions  at  this  eventful  period.  But  our 
own  country  presents  so  many  examples  of  the  highest  inter- 
est, which  are  in  a  great  degree  unknown  to  general  readers, 
that  some  further  acsount  of  them  may  be  desirable. 

All  geologists  are  well  acquainted  with  the  rich  mine  of 
fossil  remains  along  the  east  coast  of  England  ;  and  especially 
in  the  counties  of  Essex,  Suffolk,  Norfolk,  and  Lincoln.  An 
account  of  those  on  the  coast  of  Norfolk  has  been  kindly 
communicated  to  me  by  the  Rev.  James  Layton,  of  Catfield, 
in  that  county,  now  resident  at  Sandwich,  a  distinguished 
collector  of  such  fossil  treasures ;  and  as  this  account  will 
serve  to  throw  a  great  additional  light  upon  the  effects  of  di- 
luvial action  now  under  consideration,  I  shall  proceed  to  lay 
it  before  my  readers. 

After  describing  the  strata  of  blue  clay,  locally  called  mud 
cliffs,  of  which  an  interesting  section  is  presented  along  that 
coast,  exhibiting,  in  the  clearest  manner,  the  violent  effects  of 
some  diluviul  eddy^  at  that  particular  point,  by  the  action  of 
which  the  intermixture  and  contortions  of  the  strata,  as  they 
were  formed,  took  place ;  Mr.  Layton  proceeds  as  follows  : 
"  One  remarkable  feature  in  this  compact  blue  clay,  is  a 
stratum  of  wood,  exhibiting  the  appearance  of  a  wood  over- 
thrown, or  crushed  in  situ.  At  Paling,  the  stumps  of  trees  seem 
now  to  be  really  standing  ;  the  roots  are  strong,  spread  abroad, 
and  intermingling  with  each  other  :  were  a  torrent  to  sweep 
away  the  mould  from  the  surface  of  a  thick  wood,  leaving  the 
roots  hare  in  the  ground,  the  appearances  would  be  exactly  the 
same.  This  phenomenon  occurs  again  at  Hasborough,  the 
line  of  crushed  wood,  leaves,  grass,  &c.,  frequently  forming 
a  bed  of  peat,  extends  just  above  low  water  mark.  About 
this  stratum  are  found  numerous  remains  of  mammalia :  the 
horns  and  bones  of  at  least  four  kinds  of  deer;  the  ox,  the 
horse,  hippopotamus,  rhinoceros,  and  elephant.  These  fos- 
sil remains  are  foimd  at  Hasborough,  and  its  neighbourhood, 
on  the  denuded  clay  shore  :  at  Mundesley  they  are  found  in 
the  cliff.     The  great  mine,  however,  is  in  the  sea,  some  miles 


16S  GEOLOGY  OF  SCRIPTURE. 

from  land,  where  there  is  an  oyster  bed,  on  a  stratum  of 
gravel,  about  six  fathoms  deep.  The  sea  gains  rapidly  on 
this  coast ;  two  yards  at  least  every  year.  We  may,  there- 
fore, conclude,  that  the  land  once  extended  considerably  be- 
yond that  bed ;  and  that  the  stratum  of  fossils  was  left,  be- 
cause they  were  hard  and  heavy,  while  the  mud  and  sand 
have  been  carried  into  deeper  water. 

*'How  far  this  bed  of  fossils  extends,  I  cannot  pretend  to 
say;  but  in  1826,  some  fishermen,  while  dredging  for  soles  on 
'  the  Knowl,'  a  bank  twenty  miles  off  shore,  brought  up  an  en- 
tire tusk  of  an  elephant,  which  is  now  in  my  possession ;  it 
is  nine  feet  six  inches  long,  one  foot  nine  inches  in  its  great- 
est circumference,  and  weighs  97  pounds.  It  is  cornuform, 
and  exactly  resembles  the  tusks  of  the  mammoth,  said  to 
have  been  found  in  the  ice  in  Siberia.*  The  elephants  must 
have  been  abundant.  I  have  at  least  70  grinders,  of  all  sizes, 
from  four  laminae  to  twenty ;  and  so  various  in  their  features, 
that,  at  first,  I  fancied  I  could  distinguish  a  dozen  different 
species  ;  but  I  now  believe  that  they  all  belong  to  the  same, 
and  that  most  resembling  the  Asiatic.  Those  which  I  now 
have,  are  reserved  from  more  than  two  hundred,  which  have 
been  in  my  possession;  and  the  oyster  dredgers  reported,  that 
they  had  fished  up  immense  quantities,  and  thrown  them  into 
deep  water,  as  they  greatly  obstructed  their  nets.  Amongst 
these  fossils,  that  is,  from  the  oyster-bed,  are  some  supposed 
to  be  of  a  species  of  the  whale. 

"In  1820,  an  entire  skeleton  of  the  Great  Mastodon  was 
found  at  Horstead,  near  Norwich,  lying  on  its  side,  stretched 
out,  between  the  chalk  and  the  gravel.  A  grinder  was  brought 
to  me,  (it  is  still  in  the  possession  of  Dawson  Turner,  Esq. 
of  Yarmouth ;)  but  so  long  after  it  was  discovered,  that 
scarcely  any  other  part  of  the  animal  could  be  preserved. 
The  whole  had  been  carried  away  with  the  chalk,  and  burnt 
for  lime,  or  spread  in  minute  fragments  over  the  fields."}" 

*'  Perhaps,  I  should  also  tell  you,  that  upon  this  compact 

*  The  largest  specimen  of  a  fossil  tusk  that  I  have  seen  or  heard  of, 
it  in  the  cabinet  of  Dr.  Buckland,  at  Oxford,  and  was  found  at  Rome. 
Is  is  but  a  small  portion  of  what  the  whole  has  been,  being  not  more 
than  about  two  feet  long ;  but,  from  its  great  size  and  straightness,  it 
must  have  been  of  prodigious  length,  and  of  nearly  four  hundred 
weight.  Its  diameter  is  about  10  inches,  and  in  its  present  decayed 
state,  it  much  resembles  a  piece  of  fossil  timber. 

t  For  a  further  account  of  this  fossil,  see  Chapter  12. 


GEOLOGY  OF  SCRIPTURE.  169 

blue  clay,  so  rich  in  fossils,  is  generally,  but  not  constantly, 
a  stratum  of  light  blue  clay,  varying  in  thickness  up  to  four 
feet:  this  is  always  delicately  laminated;  often  having  the 
appearance  of  the  leaves  of  a  book  when  pressed  on  one 
side.  Above  this  are  sand,  (frequently  stratified,)  brown 
clay,  gravel,  and  chalk  rubbish,  intermingled,  or  alternating, 
and  surmounted  by  a  deep  rich  soil.  These  upper  beds  occa- 
sionally present  fossil  shells,  probably  from  the  crag  stra- 
turn,]' 

It  is  scarcely  necessary  to  make  any  remark  on  the  inter- 
esting and  corroborative  evidence  of  diluvial  action,^presented 
to  us  throughout  every  word  of  this  singular  and  distinct 
account. 

We  here  have  every  thing  that  the  imagination  can  require, 
in  painting  the  effects  of  a  great  diluvial  eddy,  collecting 
in  its  vortex  an  indiscriminate  mixture  of  floating  animal, 
vegetable,  and  marine  productions,  from  every  climate  under 
heaven.  The  description  of  the  washed  state  of  the  roots  of 
the  trees  is  particularly  striking,  as  every  one,  who  has  seen 
a  high  land  flood,  bearing  along  its  vegetable  booty,  must  be 
familiar  with  the  appearances  which  these  fossil  forests 
exhibit.  But  instead  of  single  trees,  we  must  endeavour 
to  present  to  the  mind's  eye  such  floating  and  matted 
forests,  as  the  wilds  of  America  could  still  produce,  in  the 
event  of  a  renewal  of  so  awful  a  calamity  ;  we  must  enlarge 
our  views,  in  considering  such  vast  effects  ;  and  imagine  this 
portion  of  the  diminishing  waters  of  the  deluge  to  be  com- 
pletely charged  with  a  floating  mass  of  objects,  collected  by 
the  currents  from  "  the  four  winds."  We  must  endeavour 
to  conceive,  what  mortal  eye  never  saw,  nor  ever  can  see  ; 
and  we  shall  then  be  fully  able  to  elucidate  and  unravel  the 
mystery  which  has  so  long  overshadowed  this  awfully  grand 
subject.  The  whole  scene  now  presents  itself  to  the  imagi- 
nation ;  and  we  are  thus  led  to  a  period  in  the  history  of  our 
native  land,  when  its  soft  and  chalky  surface,  for  the  first 
time,  showed  itself  above  the  level  of  the  waters ;  and  when 
all  its  valleys  and  its  basins  first  became  the  depositories  of 
what  we  have  so  long  speculated  upon  in  darkness  and  in 
error,  under  the  guidance  of  a  false  and  theoretical  philoso- 
phy. The  same  level  of  the  waters,  which  deposited  this 
mingled  mass  of  organic  destruction  on  the  coasts  of  modern 
Norfolk,  must  have  been  extended  over  the  whole  of  the 
south  of  England,  and,  also,  over  by  far  the  greater  part  of 
p  2 


170  GEOLOGY  OF  SCRIPTURE. 

the  north.  If  we  consider,  on  the  great  scale,  the  general 
structure  of  this  southern  portion  of  England,  and  follow 
out  the  formation  of  the  chalk  on  which  all  these  animal 
remains  and  diluvial  strata  repose,  and  below,  or  in  which  no 
quadruped,  or  vegetable  substance  has  ever  yet  been  discovered, 
we  shall  find,  that  from  that  very  shore  of  Norfolk,  and  of 
the  neighbouring  counties  of  Suffolk,  of  Essex,  and  of  Kent, 
ramifications  of  chalk,  in  the  form  of  high  bare  downs, 
stretch  from  east  to  west,  across  the  whole  of  this  part  of 
the  kingdom  ;  and  in  three  well  defined  ridges,  are  known 
by  the  names  of  the  Oxfordshire  Hills,  the  Surrey  Hills, 
and  the  Sussex  Downs.  Between  each  of  these  hilly 
ridges,  on  which  little  or  no  soil  is  to  be  found,  excepting  in 
the  dips  or  hollows,  which  are  invariably  filled  with  strati- 
Jied  diluvial  clay  and  gravel,  we  find  extended  plains  of  the 
richest  soils,  often  of  a  depth  which  cannot  easily  be  pene- 
trated, and  containing  abundant  animal  and  vegetable  testi- 
monies to  their  formation  having  taken  place  at  the  same 
destructive  period  when  the  strata  of  Norfolk  became  so 
charged  with  animal  debris.  To  the  north  of  the  Oxford- 
shire hills,  (one  part  of  which,  called  Nettlebed,  is  consid- 
ered the  highest  point  of  England,  south  of  the  IVent,)  we  find, 
in  the  vale  of  Oxford  itself,  numerous  instances  of  the 
common  diluvial  strata,  in  the  form  of  deep  soil,  gravel, 
clay  of  various  kinds,  and  stratified  rocks  of  a  calcareous 
description,  full  of  sea  shells. 

In  one  of  these  strata,  the  quarries  opened  up  on  the  rising 
ground  at  Shotover,  a  few  miles  from  Oxford,  furnish  a  rich 
treasure  of  fossil  animal  remains  ;  and  it  was  from  this  place 
that  one  of  the  Saurian,  or  Crocodile  tribe,  was  lately  pro- 
cured for  the  cabinet  of  Professor  Buckland,  on  one  of  the 
bones  of  which  a  large  oyster  is  seen  attached,  together  with 
two  fine  ammonites,  in  their  natural  position.  Those  speak- 
ing witnesses  of  marine  action  could  not  have  been  produced 
on  this/?'e67i  water  animal,  without  its  having  been,  for  some 
time,  subjected,  like  the  bones  of  the  mammoth  mentioned 
by  Cuvier,  to  the  waters  in  which  they  naturally  dwelt. 

Now,  if  we  suppose  the  level  of  the  sea  to  have  gradually, 
and  in  the  course  of  weeks,  sunk  from  the  heights  at  Nettle- 
bed,  drifting  off,  as  it  fell,  every  movable  substance,  either 
animal,  vegetable  or  mineral,  into  the  lower  levels,  where 
they  were  submitted  to  the  lateral  action  of  the  tides,  and, 
consequently,  arranged  in  stratified  order,  as  has  been  before 


GEOLOGY  OF  SCRIPTURE.  171 

fully  explained,  and  as  always  must  happen  in  such  cases ; 
we  shall  have  a  clear  and  well  defined  idea  of  the  effects 
observed  in  this  and  every  other  vale  or  plain  in  the  south  of 
England,  formed  almost  invariably  of  the  same  materials 
and  structure.  By  this  means,  we  have  a  distinct  concep- 
tion of  the  London  basin,  situated  between  these  same 
Oxfordshire  hills,  and  the  ridge  of  those  of  Surrey,  to  the 
south.  By  this  means,  we  learn  how  the  rich  wealds  of 
Kent,  and  of  Sussex,  came  to  be  formed  of  such  unfathomable 
depth  of  blue  clay,  marl,  sand-stone,  iron-stone,  &c. ;  all 
reposing,  in  alternate  strata,  upon  the  chalk,  which  there 
can  be  no  doubt  extends  below,  from  the  Sussex  Downs  to 
the  Surrey  hills  ;  and  from  these  latter  again,  to  those  of 
Oxfordshire.* 

By  extending  this  line  of  reasoning  to  other  parts  of  our 
own  native  country,  and  from  thence  carrying  the  mind's 
eye  over  the  plains  of  France,  of  Germany,  of  Europe,  and 
of  the  rest  of  the  world,  there  is  at  once  a  full  conviction 
presented  to  the  reason,  of  the  manner  in  which  such  uniform 
effects  have  been  produced  by  so  universal  and  prevailing  a 
cause.  The  basins  of  Paris,  of  London,  and  of  the  Isle  of 
Wight,  so  long  the  subjects  of  blind  speculation  and  of 
error,  must  all  have  then  received  their  load  of  fossil  trea- 
sures ;  and  then,  also,  might  be  seen  the  inflated  and  colossal 
forms  of  the  animal  kingdom,  bending  their  gradual  but 
certain  courses  towards  their  present  icy  beds  in  the  Polar 
regions. 

The'  work  of  destruction  had  at  length  been  consummated ; 
and  the  new  dry  lands  were  now  to  assume  those  forms 
and  qualities,  which  experience  shows  us  are  so  happily 
suited  to  the  wants  and  comforts  of  postdiluvian  generations. 

*  The  form  and  structure  of  the  weald  of  Kent  and  Sussex,  are, 
indeed,  truly  wortlij  of  our  most  attentive  observation.  In  out- 
ward form,  there  is  the  greatest  variety  of  hill  and  dale,  without, 
however,  in  almost  any  instance,  being  provided  with  the  brooks  or 
rivers,  which,  in  other  circumstances,  we  should  look  for  as  certain 
in  every  holloAv.  This  peculiarity  is  obviously  occasioned  by  the 
nature  and  extent  of  the  prevailing  clay,  which,  in  many  instances, 
is  unfathomable.  It  is  not  a  little  singular,  that  coal  has  not  yet 
been  discovered  in  the  wealds  of  Kent ;  for,  as  the  soils  and  strata 
are  almost  every  where  identical  with  those  of  many  of  our  richest 
coal  fields,  there  can  be  no  reason  given  for  its  absence  from  the 
iron  and  sand  stone  strata  which  so  much  abound,  tlian  that  the  diluvial 
waters,  in  this  particular  locality,  Avere  not  charged  with  the  same 
floating  vegetable  masses  which  they  have  deposited  in  such  abun- 
dance m  other  more  favoured  places. 


CHAPTER  XL 


The  Cave  of  Kirkdale. — Dr.  Buckland's  Theory  founded  on 
its  Fossil  Remains. — Contradictory  Nature  of  this  Thewy, 
— Fossil  Bjones  from  the  Hymalaya  Glaciers,  and  from  the 
Heights  of  South  .America. — Natural  mode  f.r  accounting 
for  them. — The  Habits  of  the  Elephant. — His  most  perfect 
form. — His  love  of  the  Water,  and  of  a  swampy  and  woody 
Country. — Habits  of  the  Rhinoceros. — Cuvier^s  Opinion  of 
Fossil  Remains. — Inconsistency  of  this  Opinion. — Evidence 
of  Astronomy. — Evidence  from  Fossil  Trees. — Conclusive 
Nature  of  this  Evidence. — Evidence  derived  from  Peat  Moss. 
— Foot-marks  of  Antediluvian  Animals. — Scratches  occasioned 
by  the  Diluvial  Action. — Formation  of  Valleys. — Scripture 
alone  capable  of  explaining  these  Evidences, 

There  probably  never  has  appeared  any  geological  work, 
that  excited  so  much  attention  and  interest  at  the  time  of  its 
publication,  as  the  Reliquise  Diluvianse  of  Professor  Buck- 
land  ;  in  which  that  excellent  and  learned  geologist  endea- 
vours to  account  for  the  fossil  remains  found  in  our  own 
island,  of  quadrupeds  which  are  now  confined  tb  much  more 
southern  latitudes. 

It  is  with  the  most  sincere  respect  for  the  well-known 
talents  of  Professor  Buckland,  that  I  consider  it  a  duty,  in 
this  place,  and  while  considering  this  part  of  my  subject,  to 
advance  any  thing  in  opposition  to  one  whose  opinions  are 
so  influential  in  the  geological  world.  But  the  whole  theory, 
under  the  impression  of  which  that  work  is  written,  is  so 
directly  opposed  to  what  has  now  been  advanced,  that  I  feel 
it  due  to  myself,  as  well  as  to  my  readers,  to  make  some 
observations  upon  it ;   not  only  in  the  fair  support  of  an  op- 


GEOLOGY  OF  SCRIPTURE.  173 

posite  argument,  but  for  the  sake  of  advancing-,  in  at  least  a 
nearer  degree,  towards  the  same  great  end,  to  which  all  such 
inquiries  ought  invariably  to  point. 

After  describing  the  remarkable  and  indiscriminate  mixture 
of  fossil  bones,  found  in  a  cave  at  Kirkdale,  in  Yorkshire,  in 
1821,  Dr.  Buckland  proceeds  with  the  following  remarks 
upon  the  general  theory  of  the  fossil  remains  of  quadrupeds. 

"  It  was  probable,  even  before  the  discovery  of  this  cave, 
from  the  abundance  in  which  the  remains  of  similar  species 
occur  in  superficial  gravel  beds,  which  cannot  be  referred  to 
any  other  than  diluvial  origin,  that  such  animals  were  the 
antediluvian  inhabitants,  not  only  of  this  country,  but  gene- 
rally of  all  those  northern  latitudes  in  which  their  remains 
are  found  :  the  proof,  however,  was  imperfect,  as  it  was  possi- 
ble they  might  have  been  drifted  or  floated  hither  by  the 
waters,  from  the  warmer  regions  of  the  earth ;  but  the  facts 
developed  in  this  charnel-house  of  the  antediluvian  forests  of 
Yorkshire,  demonstrate  that  there  was  a  long  succession  of 
years  in  which  the  elephant,  rhinoceros  and  hippopotamus, 
had  been  the  prey  of  the  hyaenas,  which,  like  themselves,  in- 
habited England  at  the  period  immediately  preceding  the 
formation  of  the  diluvial  gravel ;  and  if  they  inhabited  this 
country,  it  follows  as  a  corollary,  that  they  also  inhabited  all 
those  other  regions  of  the  northern  hemisphere,  in  which 
similar  bones  have  been  found  under  precisely  similar  cir- 
cumstances, not  mineralized,  but  simply  in  the  state  of  grave 
bones,  embedded  in  loam,  or  clay,  or  gravel,  over  great  part 
of  northern  Europe,  as  well  as  North  America  and  Siberia." 

"  It  is  in  the  highest  degree  curious  to  observe,  that  four 
of  the  genera  of  animals,  whose  bones  are  thus  widely  dif- 
fused over  the  temperate,  and  even  over  the  polar  regions  of 
the  northern  hemisphere,  should  at  present  exist  only  in  tropi- 
cal climates,  and  chiefly  south  of  the  equator ;  and  that  the 
only  country  in  which  the  elephant,  rhinoceros,  hippopotamus 
and  hyaena,  are  now  associated,  is  in  southern  Africa.  In  the 
immediate  neighbourhood  of  the  Cape,  they  all  live  and  die 
together,  as  they  formerly  did  in  Britain;  whilst  the  hippo- 
potamus is  now  confined  exclusively  to  Africa,  and  the  ele- 
phant, rhinoceros  and  hyaena,  are  diffused  widely  over  the 
continent  of  Asia. 

"  To  the  question  which  here  so  naturally  presents  itself, 
as  to  what  might  have  been  the  climate  of  the  northern  hem- 
isphere, when  peopled  with  genera  of  animals,  which  are 


174  GEOLOGY  OF  SCRIPTURE. 

now  confined  to  the  wanner  regions,  it  is  not  essential  to  the 
point  before  me  to  find  a  solution.  My  object  is,  to  establish 
the  fact,  that  the  animals  lived  and  died  in  the  regions  where 
their  remains  are  now  found,  and  were  not  drifted  thither  by 
the  diluvial  waters  from  other  latitudes." 

In  the  Edinburgh  Philosophical  Journal,  (in  1827,)  a  letter  " 
was  published  by  Dr.  Buckland,  which  he  had  received  from 
Colonel  Sykes,  on  the  subject  of  hyeenas  dens  in  India;  and 
the  object  of  this  publication  was,  to  show  the  solidity  of  the 
foundation  on  which  the  professor's  theory  of  the  Kirkdale 
cave  was  built.  This  letter  from  India  gives  the  exact  de- 
scription which  we  should  naturally  expect,  of  the  earth,  or 
hole  of  a  carnivorous  animal.  A  good  many  bones  were  found 
in  it ;  but  not  more  in  proportion  to  the  size  of  the  animal, 
and  the  prey  on  which  he  usually  feeds,  than  we  always  find 
in  a  fox's  hole  in  our  own  country.  I  have  lately  had  the 
pleasure  of  conversing  with  Colonel  Sykes,  and  of  discussing 
this,  and  other  subjects  of  equal  interest,  connected  with  a 
tropical  climate,  and  of  the  animals  natural  to  it.  His  de- 
scription of  the  hyaena  is  any  thing  but  favourable  to  the 
theory  of  the  cave  of  Kirkdale,  even  supposing  that  we  had 
no  stronger  ground  on  which  to  combat  it.  He  considers 
that  the  hyaena  does  not  live  in  a  gregarious  manner;  on  the 
contrary,  he  never  but  once  saw  three  full  grown  animals  in 
the  same  hole ;  and  he  supposes  that  one  of  them  was  a  young 
one,  not  yet  expelled  from  the  family,  which"  always  happens 
as  soon  as  the  young  arc  able  to  shift  for  themselves.  This 
is  the  well  known  habit  of  foxes  and  of  wolves,  between 
which,  and  the  hyaena,  there  seems  to  be  considerable  simi- 
larity of  character.  Colonel  Sykes  inclines  to  think  that  they 
do  not  live  so  much  in  caves  of  a  large  size,  as  in  fissures 
and  burrows  similar  to  fox  earths ;  and  that  it  is  probable 
that  they  do  not  haunt  even  these,  except  when  they  have 
young;  but  lie  out  in  the  open  country,  or  in  the  woods,  as 
wolves  are  known  to  do. 

In  the  earth  which  Colonel  Sykes  laid  open,  he  chose  one, 
which,  from  its  beaten  and  used  appearance,  seemed  a  well 
established  haunt;  and  in  such  a  country  as  India,  if  such  a 
haunt  be  not  disturbed,  or  destroyed,  it  is  probable  that  it 
may  be  so  tenanted  for  many  successive  years.  There  was, 
however,  no  unusual  quantity  of  bones;  and  such  as  were 
found,  were  of  a  very  recent  character.  The  abundance  of 
teeth  was  entirely  wanting;  nor  could  I  learn  that  there  were 


GEOLOGY  OP  SCRIPTURE.  175 

any  indications  of  hyaenas,  who  hud  died  ofoldage^  having  been 
devoured  by  their  own  species* 

The  learned  professor  then  proceeds  to  state  the  differences 
of  opinion  that  exist,  on  the  subject  of  climate,  amongst  the 
highest  authorities,  and  he  mentions  the  opinion  of  Cuvier, 
that  these  animals  probably  had  a  constitution  adapted  to 
endure  the  rigours  of  a  northern  winter,  which  opinion  was 
supported  (and  indeed  was  probably  formed)  by  the  "  large 
quantity  of  wool"  found,  with  the  skeleton  of  an  elephant, 
discovered  in  1771,  in  the  frozen  gravel  of  Vilhoui. 

He  proceeds,  however,  with  much  candour,  to  state  the 
opposing  objections  to  such  an  idea,  and  to  destroy  both  his 
own  and  Cuvier's  theory,  upon  the  very  natural  and  unan- 
swerable principle,  that  food  could  not  have  been  found  in 
those  rigorous  climates,  proper  for  the  sustenance  of  such 
large  animals :  he  proceeds  as  follows  ;  "  for  though  the 
elephant  and  rhinoceros,  if  clothed  in  wool,  may  have  fed 
themselves  on  branches  of  trees  and  brushwood,  during  the 
extreme  severities  of  winter,  still  I  see  not  how  even  these 
were  to  be  obtained  in  the  frozen  regions  of  Siberia,  which, 
at  present,  produce  little  more  than  moss  and  lichens,  which, 
during  great  part  of  the  year,  are  buried  under  impenetrable 
ice  and  snow ;  yet  it  is  in  those  regions  of  extreme  cold,  on 
the  utmost  verge  of  the  now  habitable  world,  that  the  bones 
of  elephants  are  found,  occasionally  crowded  together  in  heaps, 
along  the  shores  of  the  icy  sea,  from  Archangel  to  Behring's 
Straits,  forming  whole  islands,  composed  of  bones  and 
MUD,  at  the  mouth  of  the  Lena,  and  encased  in  ice,*  from 
which  they  are  melted  out  by  the  solar  heat  of  the  short  sum- 
mer, along  the  coasts  of  Tungusia,  in  sufficient  numbers  to 
form  an  important  article  of  commerce." — Reliq.  Diluv.  p.  46. 

In  concluding  this  fundamental  part  of  his  subject,  on 

*  In  order  to  trace  such  islands  of  bones  and  mud  encased  in  ice, 
to  their  true  origin,  we  have  only  to  imagine  the  same  kind  of  scene 
as  we  have  just  been  contemplating  on  the  coasts  of  Norfolk.  And 
in  order  to  disprove  so  obvious  a  cause,  or  to  show  that  such  effects 
are  produced  in  the  common  coiu'se  of  things,  as  some  have  sup- 
posed, it  must  be  shown  in  what  part  of  the  world  such  deposits  ever 
now  take  place,  and  by  what  possible  event  the  destruction  of  so 
prodigmus  a  number  of  elephants,  and  other  large  quadrupeds, 
could,  at  any  one  time,  have  been  effected :  for  it  must  be  evident, 
that,  had  the  mud  cliiFs  of  Norfolk  been  formed  in  the  polar  regions, 
we  must  have  had  the  natui-al  addition  of  ice,  wherever  they  are  now 
satui'ated  with  water. 


176  GEOLOGY  OF  SCRIPTURE. 

which,  indeed,  Dr.  Buckland  had  before  admitted  that  his 
whole  theory  entirely  depended,  he  proceeds :  "  Between 
these  two  conflicting  opinions,"  (viz.  either  that  of  Cuvier, 
that  the  animals  had  a  constitution  fitted  to  a  colder  climate; 
or  that  of  other  philosophers,  who  supposed  the  climates, 
now  so  inclement,  to  have  been  formerly  warm,  and  the 
change  to  have  suddenly  taken  place  by  an  alteration  in  the 
inclination  of  the  earth's  axis,  or  by  the  near  approach  of  a 
comet;*)  "between  these  two  conflicting  opinions,  we  are 
compelled^''''  says  Dr.  Buckland,  "  ^o  make  our  choice ;  there 
seems  to  he  no  third  or  intej-mediate  state  with  which  both 
may  be  compatible.  It  is  not,  however,  my  purpose  to  dis- 
cuss the  difficulties  that  will  occur  on  both  sides,  till  the  further 
progress  of  geological  science  shall  have  afforded  us  more 
ample  information,  as  to  the  structure  of  our  globe ;  and  have 
supplied  those  data,  without  which  all  opinions  that  can  be 
advanced  on  the  subject  must  be  premature,  and  amount  to  no 
more  than  plausible  conjectures.  At  present,  I  am  con- 
cerned ONLY  to  establish  TWO  IMPORTANT  FACTS  ;  firSt,  that 

there  has  been  a  recent  and  general  inundation  of  the  globe ; 
and,  secondly,  that  the  animals,  found  in  the  wreck  of  that 
Inundation,  Avere  natives  of  high  northern  latitudes,  and  not 
drifted  to  their  present  place  from  equatorial  regions,  by  the 
waters  that  caused  that  inundation." — Reliq.  DUuv.  p.  47. 

The  most  remarkable  feature  in  this  part  of  the  work  of 
Dr.  Buckland,  is  the  very  loose,  and  even  contradictory  rea- 
soning, to  be  found  throughout  the  above  quotations.  In  one 
part,  he  considers  it  as  positively  proved,  that  the  animals, 
whose  bones  are  now  found  in  Yorkshire,  inhabited  England 
"  at  a  period  immediately  preceding  the  formation  of  the  di- 
luvial gravel  in  which  they  are  embedded ;"  and  that  "  if 
they  inhabited  England,  it  follovjed  as  a  coi-ollary,  that  they 
also  inhabited  all  the  other  regions  of  the  north,  in  which  simi- 
lar bones  have  been  found ;"  and  yet  he  soon  after  states,  that 

*  It  was  a  part  of  the  theory  of  La  Place,  in  his  Systeme  du  Monde, 
that  the  stroke  of  a  passing  comet  was  the  most  probable  cause  of 
the  Mosaic  deluge.  But,  at  the  same  time,  he  endeavoui's  to  allay 
those  fears  which  were  then,  as  now,  so  common,  of  a  repetition  of 
so  dreadful  an  accident,  upon  the  principle  of  the  improbability  of 
such  a  chance,  in  so  wide  a  space  as  the  heavenly  bodies  have  to  move 
in.  How  strange  it  is  to  find  so  great  a  mind  incapable  of  appre- 
ciating the  provident  wisdom  of  an  Almighty  Creator,  and  conceiv- 
ing^tliat  such  supposed  events  were  left  to  the  guidance  of  chance ! 


GEOLOGY  OF  SCRIPTURE.  177 

he  "cannot  see  how  even  branches  of  trees  and  brushwood 
were  to  be  obtained  for  their  support,  in  climates  now  pro- 
ducing nothing  but  7/2055  and  lichens,  which  are  covered  with 
impenetrable  ice  during  the  greater  part  of  the  year." 

The  fact  is  evident,  that  the  contradictory  difficulties  of 
such  a  theory  were  not  concealed  from  the  searching  mind  of 
the  learned  professor;  who,  however,  leaves  the  whole  ques- 
tion precisely  in  the  same  unstable  condition,  in  which  the 
mind  is  left  bewildered  by  the  theories  oi  first  formations  by 
secondary  causes.  He  admits  the  evident  and  close  connexion 
between  the  fossil  remains  of  quadrupeds,  found  in  all  coun- 
tries; but  though  he  sees  the  utter  hopelessness  of  ever  being 
able  to  provide  the  necessary  food  for  elephants  in  the  polar 
regions,  he  yet  casts  aside  this  insuperable  difjiculty,  and 
twice  presses  the  two  important  facts  he  is  most  concerned 
TO  PROVE,  regardless  of  the  contradiction  in  which  he  must, 
unavoidably,  become  involved  in  the  attempt.  I  cannot  agree 
with  the  learned  professor,  that  the  subject  of  climate,  and, 
consequently,  oi  food,  was  of  secondary  importance  in  the 
support  of  his  theory;  and  there  surely  may  be  better  means 
of "  establishing  the  fact,  that  animals  lived  in  the  regions 
where  their  remains  are  now  found,"  than  by  showing  the 
impossibility  of  their  finding  the  necessary  food,  which  the 
professor  not  only  perceived,  but  very  candidly  admitted.* 

But  the  above  reasoning  of  Dr.  Buckland  must  appear  the 
more  remarkable,  from  his  having,  in  a  subsequent  part  of 
the  Reliquiae  Diluvianae,  and  in  the  course  of  most  ably  prov- 
ing the  inundation  of  high  levels,  fully  admitted  the  principle 
of  transportation,  or  drifting  of  animal  remains,  as  the  only 
possible  means  of  accounting  for  the  fossil  bones  found  in 
the  high  elevations  of  Asia  and  America,  and  in  the  avalanches 
from  the  regions  of  perpetual  snow.  "  With  regard  to  the 
bones  of  animals,"  says  he,  "  that  perished  by  this  great  in- 
undation, although  they  have  not  yet  been  discovered  in  the 
high  Alpine  gravel  beds  of  Europe,  (which  is  but  a  negative 
fact,)  we  have,  in  America,  the  bones  of  the  mastodon,  at  an 

*  "Though  the  soil  of  the  whole  of  that  remote  country  (Spitz- 
bergen)  does  not  produce  vegetables  suitable  or  sufficient  for  the 
nom-ishment  of  a  single  human  being,  yet  its  coasts  and  seas  have 
afforded  riches  and  independence  to  thousands." 

"  The  only  plant  I  met  with  in  Spitzbergen,  partaking  of  the  na- 
ture of  a  tree,  (a  salix,  allied  to  the  S.  herbacea,)  grows  but  to  the 
height  of  three  or  four  inches." — Scoresby^s  ..irctic  Regioiu^. 
Q 


178  GEOLOGY  OF  SCRIPTURE. 

elevation  of  7800  feet  above  the  sea,  in  the  Champ  des  Geants, 
near  Santa  Fe  de  Bogota ;  and  another  species  of  the  same 
genus  in  the  Cordilleras,  found  by  Humboldt  at  an  elevation 
of  7200  feet,  near  the  volcano  of  Imbarbura,  in  the  kingdom 
of  Quito.  If  the  animal  remains  of  this  era  have  not  yet  been 
discovered  at  such  heights  as  these,  in  Europe,  let  it  be 
recollected,  that  we  have  no  elevated  mountain  plains  like 
those  in  America ;  that  our  highest  mountains  are  but  narrow 
peaks,  and  ridges  of  small  extent,  when  compared  with  the 
low  country  that  surrounds  them ;  and  that  if  it  were  proved 
{which  it  is  not)  that  the  animals  inhabited  these  highest 
points,  it  is  more  than  probable  that  their  carcasses  would 
have  been  drifted  off,  as  the  greater  mass  of  their  gravel  has 
been,  into  the  lower  levels  of  the  adjacent  country. 

"  But  in  central  Asia,  the  bones  of  horses  and  of  deer  have 
been  found  at  an  elevation  of  16,000  feet  above  the  sea,  in  the 
Hymalaya  mountains.*  The  bones,  I  am  now  speaking  of, 
are  at  the  Royal  College  of  Surgeons  in  London,  and  were 
sent  home  last  year  (1822)  to  Sir  Everard  Home,  by  cap- 
tain W.  S.  Webb,  who  procured  them  from  the  Chinese 
Tartars  of  Daba;  who  assured  him  that  they  were  found  in  the 
north  face  of  the  snowy  ridge  of  Kylas,  in  latitude  32  degrees, 
at  a  spot  which  captain  Webb  calculates  to  be  not  less  than 
16,000  feet  high :  they  are  only  obtained  from  masses  that 
fall  with  the  avalanches,  from  the  regions  of  perpetual  snow, 
and  are,  therefore,  said  by  the  natives  to  have  fallen  from  the 
clouds,  and  to  be  the  bones  of  genii."  j- 

*  Dr.  Buckland  has  given  an  interesting  note  from  Gilbert's  An- 
nalen,  1821,  in  which  a  discovery  by  Lieutenant  Kotzebue  is  described 
as  follows:  "On  the  western  part  of  the  gulf,  to  the  north  of 
Behring's  Straits,  a  mountain  was  discovered  covered  with  verdure, 
(moss  and  grass,)  composed  interiorly  of  solid  ice.  On  arriving  at  a 
place  where  the  shore  rises  almost  perpendicularly  from  the  sea  to 
the  height  of  100  feet,  and  continues  afterwards  to  extend  with  a 
gradual  inclination,  they  observed  masses  of  the  purest  ice  100  feet 
high,  preserved  under  the  above  vegetable  carpet.  The  soil  is  only 
about  half  a  foot  tliick,  and  is  composed  of  a  mixture  of  clay,  earth, 
and  mould. 

The  portion  of  the  cliif  exposed  to  the  sxm  was  melting,  and  send- 
ing much  water  into  the  sea.  An  undoubted  proof  of  this  ice  being 
primitive  [i.  e.  not  formed  by  any  causes  now  in  action)  is  afFoiHled 
by  the  great  number  of  bones  and  teetli  of  m^ammoths,  which  make 
their  appearance  when  it  is  melted. " — Jleliq.  Dihiv.  p.  46. 

1 1  have  had  mitch  pleasure  and  the  highest  interest  in  the  exami- 
nation of  these  bones  ;  they  appear  decidedly  to  have  been  embedded 


aEOLOGY  OF  SCRIPTURE.  179 

"  The  occurrence  of  these  bones,  at  such  an  enonnous  eleva- 
tion, in  the  regions  of  eternal  snow,  and,  consequently,  in  a 
spot  now  unfrequented  by  such  animals  as  the  horse  and  the 
deer,  can,  I  think,  be  explained  only  by  supposing  them  to  be 
of  antediluvian  origin,  and  that  the  carcasses  of  the  animals 
were  drifted  to  their  present  place^  and  lodged  in  sand  by  the 
diluvial  waters."* 

"  This  appears  to  me  the  most  probable  solution  that  can 
be  suggested ;  and  should  it  prove  the  true  one,  it  will  add  a 
still  more  decisive  fact  to  those  of  the  granite  blocks,  drifted 
from  the  heights  of  Mont  Blanc  to  the  Jura,  and  the  bones  of 
diluvial  animals,  found  by  Humboldt,  on  the  elevated  plains 
of  South  America,  to  show  that  '  all  the  high  hills,  and  the 
mountains  under  the  whole  heavens,  were  covered,'  at  the 
time  when  the  last  great  physical  change  took  place,  over  the 
surface  of  the  whole  earth." — Reliquiae  Diluvianae,  p.  222. 

Now,  it  must  be  considered  not  a  little  singular,  that  this 
distinguished  writer  should  at  once  admit  the  drifting  of  ani- 
mal remains  into  the  regions  of  perpetual  snow,  occasioned  by 
elevation  in  the  atmosphere  ;  and,  at  the  same  time,  deny  the 
same  mode  of  transport  to  those  found  in  such  abundance  in. 
the  equally  unnatural  regions  of  eternal  ice,  occasioned  by 
their  jDo/ar  elevation.  It  must  be  evident,  that  the  two  cases 
are  perfectly  similar.     For,  in  order  to  eleyate  those  fossil 

in  lime-stone  rock,  of  a  gray  colour  ;  they  are  much  broken,  though 
not  taken  from  a  hysena's  den,  and  the  hollows  of  some  are  filled 
with  the  most  beautiful  crystals.  In  otiiers,  these  crystals  have  filled 
up  the  whole  cavity  with  pure  gypsum,  of  the  whitest  colour.  It 
seems,  then,  probable,  tliat  the  masses  of  rock  in  which  they  were 
embedded  at  the  deluge,  were  torn  from  their  lofty  situations  by  the 
avalanches,  as  in  our  European  Alpine  heights  :  the  bones  are  not 
easily  assigned  to  their  proper  species,  but  one  is  evidently  that  of 
the  horse. 

*  Mr.  Temple,  in  his  light  and  amusing  sketches  of  Peru,  de- 
scribes some  fossil  bones  found  in  the  province  of  Tarija.  They 
proved  to  be  those  of  an  animal  of  the  elephant  tribe,  and  probably 
the  mastodon. 

He  says,  "  It  is  a  subject  of  interest  to  inquire  how  these  monstrous 
animals  came  into  the  valley  of  Tarija,  surrounded,  as  it  is,  by  a 
mountainous  rampart,  accessible,  as  I  have  been  credibly  informed, 
in  only  four  places,  and  those  with  gi'eat  difficulty,  even  to  mules  and 
horses.  Over  three  of  those  places,  the  most  frequented  and  most 
convenient  in  the  whole  rocky  barrier,  I  have  myself  travelled,  and 
certainly  I  do  not  think  itpossible  that  any  elephant  could  have  there 
passed." — Travels  in  Penc^  vol.  ii.  p.  295. 


180  GEOLOGY  OF  SCRIPTURE. 

bodies,  found  in  the  moimtains  of  Asia,  they  must  havejloat- 
■   ed  on  the  surface  of  the  waters ;  and,  in  order  to  effect  the 
transport  of  such  bodies  to  high  latitudes,  there  was  only  re- 
quired that  power  of  currents^  which  may  be  (and,  I  trust, 
has  been,)  proved  to  exist  at  all  times  over  the  whole  surface 
of  the  ocean.  But  this  is  only  owe  of  the  many  difficulties  and 
contradictions  which  must  occur  in  the  course  of  supporting 
a  theory  so  wide  of  the  truth.     One  difficulty,  for  example, 
would  be  removed,  with  regard  to  the  cave  of  Kirkdale,  and 
other  similar  caves,  in  many  parts  of  Europe,  if  we  could  hear, 
from  the  Cape,  of  any  one  instance  of  a  hyaena's  den,  furnished 
in  the  same  remarkable  manner  as  the  cave  of  Kirkdale  in 
Yorkshire  ;*  and  there,  surely,  could  be  no  great  difficulty  in 
doing  this  in  our  own  colony  at  the  Cape,  "  in  the  immediate 
neighbourhood  of  which  the  elephant,  rhinoceros,  hippopota- 
mus, and  hyeena,  are  now  associated,  and  live  and  die  together, 
as  they  formerly  did  in  ^?itediluvianYorkshire."  We  have  many 
anecdotes  and  amusing  accounts  of  all  these  animals,  in  the 
travels  of  that  indefatigable  sportsman,  M.  Le  Vaillant,  in  that 
very  part  of  Africa  ;  but  from  his  silence,  and  that  of  other 
naturalists,  on  this  alleged  habit  of  hyaenas  of  amassing,  from 
age  to  age,  the  broken  remains  of  the  very  food  they  are  said 
to  be  most  fond  of,  we  have  the  greatest  reason  to  doubt  that 
such  a  thing  ever  occurs.     Both  the  elephant  and  rhinoceros 
are  described  by  that  author  as  swimming  well,  and  being 
exceedingly  fond  of  the  water  ;  rolling  themselves  in  swamps 
for  the  purpose  of  defending  their  bodies  from  the  flies  by  a 
thick  coating  of  mud  ;  and  feeding  on  branches  of  trees  torn 
from  a  height  which  no  other  animal  can  reach.  But  it  seems 
unnecessary  to  search  further  into  the  difficulties  and  contra- 
dictions in  which  we  become  involved  by  adopting  the  theory 
of  Dr.  Buckland,  on  this  highly  important  subject. 

The  following  observations  on  the  natural  history  of  the 
Asiatic  elephant  may  be  found  both  amusing  and  instructive, 

*  A  collection  of  the  fossil  bones  of  quadrupeds  haslately  been  dis- 
covered in  a  lime-stone  cave  in  Wellington  Valley,  in  New  Holland. 
One  of  tlie  bones  was  submitted  to  the  inspection  of  the  late  Baron 
Cuvier,  who  ascertained  that  it  was  the  thigh  bone  of  a  young  ele- 
phant. We  thus  find  that  tliis  new  continent  forms  no  exception  to 
that  general  rule  which  is  applicable  to  the  other  great  continents  of 
the  earth  ;  and  that,  though  elephants  have  not  yet  been  found  there 
in  a  living  state,  their  fossil  remains  bear  testimony  to  the  same 
transporting  powers,  which  ai'C  so  distinctly  ti^aced  in  our  own  more 
northern  latitudes. 


GEOLOGY  or  SCRIPTURE.  181 

while  we  are  considering  the  nature  and  habits  of  that  race  of 
animals.  They  are  taken  from  that  most  amusing  work,  "  The 
Wild  sports  of  the  East,"  by  Captain  Williamson;  and 
though  the  general  tenor  of  that  and  of  similar  writings  may, 
by  some,  be  deemed  frivolous,  and  uncongenial  to  the  pur- 
suits of  the  man  of  science  and  the  philosopher,  yet  it  must 
be  kept  in  mind  that,  however  the  information  obtained  from 
such  sources  may  be  digested  in  the  closet,  it  is  from  the 
tented  field,  with  the  sportsman  and  the  native  savage,  that 
our  first  knowledge  of  these  noble  animals  of  tropical  climates 
must  originally  be  derived ;  and  it  may  be,  with  justice,  as- 
serted of  the  beautiful  work  in  question,  that  if  all  sportsmen 
in  foreign  countries  could  convey  the  results  of  their  exhilara- 
ting pursuits  with  the  same  intelligence  and  judgment,  we 
should  soon  have  a  fund  of  most  instructive  information  upon 
many  points  in  natural  history,  of  which  we  have  yet  much  to 
learn. 

Captain  Williamson's  account  of  a  perfect  elephant  is  as 
follows : 

"  An  elephant  should  have  an  arched  back,  a  broad  barrel, 
the  hind  quarters  full  and  square,  the  hind  legs  short  and 
firm,  the  toe  nails  thick  and  black;  and,  to  please  a  native, 
there  should  be  five  on  each  forefoot,  and  four  on  each  hind 
foot ; — odd  numbers  are  considered  by  them  unlucky.     I  have 
known  some  with   15  nails,   which  no  one  would  purchase; 
and  I  have  heard  of  one  with  20;  bat  never  saw  one  with 
more  than  18.     The  tail  should  be  long,  very  thick  at  the 
insertion,  and  tapering  well  towards  the  end,  where  it  should 
be  well  furnished  on  each  side  with  a  row  of  single  hairs, 
or  rather  bristles,  for  about  a  foot,  forming,  a  fork  at  the  end, 
and  resembling  the  feathers  or  wings  of  an  arrow.     This 
circumstance  respecting  the  tail  is  considered  by  the  natives 
perfectly  indispensable  ;  for  a  short  tail,  or  a  broken  one,  or 
a  want  of  hair  at  the  termination,  are  formidable  objections. 
No  man  of  consequence  would  be  seen  on  an  elephant  whose 
tail  was  devoid  of  hair;  and  particularly  if  broken  short,  as 
is  frequently  the  case.     This  latter  deficiency  is   owing  to 
a  habit  elephants  have,  in  a  wild  state,  of  seizing  each  other 
by  the  tail,  with  their  trunks,  and  twisting  them  off,   some- 
times very  close  to  the  croup.      Even  servants  of  inferior 
degree   are   averse   to   ride   on    an   elephant  so  blemished. 
The  chest  should  be  wide  and  full,  the  fore  legs  muscular 
and  well  turned ;  the  forehead  broad,  and  ornamented  between 
Q  2 


182  GEOLOGY  OF  SCRIPTURE. 

the  ey€S,  with  a  protuberance  gracefully  harmonizing  with 
the  surrounding  parts.  The  top  of  the  head  should  be 
thickly  set  with  hair,  carried  high  and  square ;  the  trunk 
thin,  and  very  elastic ;  the  teeth  of  males  should  be  exactly 
alike,  thick  and  long ;  they  should  diverge  from  each  other, 
so  as  to  be  rather  more  distant  at  the  tips,  than  at  the  inser- 
tion ;  and  with  a  graceful  curve.  The  ears  should  be  large, 
and  free  from  raggedness  at  the  edges  ;  the  cheeks  full ;  and, 
above  all  things,  the  eyes  clear  of  specks  and  rheum." 

An  elephant,  having  all  these  rare  perfections,  and  from 
nine  to  ten  feet  high,  is  worth  8  or  10,000  rupees,  or  up- 
wards of  i^lOOO. 

"Elephants  are  generally  black;  but  few  of  them  entirely 
so;  many  are  sprinkled  over  the  ears,  trunk,  jowl,  shouldens, 
and  legs,  with  dun  coloured  spots,  which  are  far  from  dis- 
pleasing. The  Nabob  Vizier  had  one,  which  was  called 
white  ;  but  it  was  really  dun.  It  was  unique  in  Bengal ;  but 
I  have  been  informed  that  in  Ceylon  they  are  by  no  means 
rare." 

"  In  some  years,  very  few  wild  elephants  can  be  found 
near  the  sea  coast,  whence  they  retire  into  the  immense  jun- 
gles which  lie  between  Chittagong,  and  the  Chinese  fron- 
tier. At  other  times,  the  coasts  are  overrun  with  them,  to 
the  utter  ruin  of  the  peasants,  whose  crops  and  plantations 
are  often  destroyed  in  the  course  of  one  night.  This  gene- 
rally happens  in  a  dry  season,  when  wa7it  of  water,  and  of 
succulent  herbage,  in  the  interior,  causes  the  herds  to  descend 
to  the  ever  verdant  plains  bordering  the  sea,  where  the  diur- 
nal breezes  inspire  fresh  vigour." 

"  Nature  has  wisely  proportioned  her  animal  to  her  vege- 
table productions.  Thus  we  find  the  districts  furnishing 
elephants,  replenished  with  immense  tracks  of  high  grass, 
and  abounding  in  lakes  and  streams ;  without  such  ample 
stores,  such  stupendous  animals  as  the  elephant  must  perish. 
For,  exclusive  of  the  large  quantity  of  grass,  &c.  which  an 
elephant  daily  consumes,  his  broad  feet  will  destroy  immense 
qantities.  As  to  his  thirst,  which  requires  both  frequent 
and  copious  libations,  the  ordinary  puddles,  such  as  furnish 
a  supply  for  cattle,  would  by  no  means  answer.  The  elephant, 
like  the  buffaloe,  delights  in  wallowing,  and  never  thrives 
so  well,  as  when  he  is  allowed  to  visit  a  rapid  stream,  there 
to  exercise  himself  in  swimming,  as  well  as  to  lie  immersed 
in  the  water." 


GEOLOGY  OF  SCRIPTURE.  183 

"  Chittagong  elephants,  growing  to  a  much  larger  size 
than  those  to  the  North,  or  Nepaul  district,  and  being  of  a 
more  substantial  form,  are  peculiarly  valuable  to  those  who 
catch  elephants  with  the  slip  knot^  or  phaun.  The  only  ob- 
jection is,  their  want  of  speed.  They  are  more  healthy  after 
being  seasoned  to  the  climate  of  the  Nepaul  country,  while  the 
native  elephants  of  that  northern  climate  are  extremely  defi- 
cient, not  only  in  the  three  grand  points,  viz.  stature,  strength 
and  beauty,  but  in  constitution  also.  Hence  they  are  of 
much  less  value  than  those  of  Chittagong,  Tipperah,  and 
Silhet."* 

*'  The  Ceylon  breed  far  exceeds  that  of  the  continent ;  and 
it  becomes  a  curious  and  interesting  question  whence  Ceylon 
was  first  furnished  with  elephants,  there  being  none  on  the 
opposite  shores,  nor  to  be  found  in  all  the  great  peninsula, 
from  the  west  bank  of  the  Ganges  to  the  Persian  Gulf! 
Besides,  the  generality  of  the  Ceylon  elephants  are  of  a 
brown,  or  dun  colour.^^ 

"Elephants  are  natives  of  a  wet  soil,  and,  in  the  wild 
state,  feed  on  very  watery  aliments.  They  also  take  great 
delight  in  ranging  among  swamps.^'' 

"  They  rarely  exceed  nine  feet  in  height.  The  tallest  ever 
found  in  Bengal,  was  the  Paugul,  or  mad  elephant,  (about 
1780).  It  was  nearly  12  feet  high ;  but  the  medium  size  is 
from  seven  to  eight  feet." 

There  is  no  definite  mark  by  which  the  age  of  the  ele- 
phant can  be  known.  We  can  only  judge  by  his  general 
appearance. 

While  we  are  thus  instructed,  by  this  active  and  intelli- 
gent sportsman,  on  the  subject  of  the  elephant  in  its  wild 
state,  I  shall  here  also  extract  the  few  particulars  he  was 
enabled  to  give,  on  the  subject  of  the  haunts  of  the  rhino- 
ceros, an  animal  whose  remains  are  also  now  found  in  a  fossil 
state  in  the  northern  and  temperate  regions,  and  frequently 
in  the  same  situations,  though  never  i^i  the  same  abundance  as 
those  of  the  elephant.     We  shall  find  that  this  wild  and 

*  Here  we  have  it  distinctly  showai,  that,  even  within  the  tropics, 
the  elephant  is  in  his  most  natural  climate,  in  the  hottest  parts  ;  and 
if  the  constitution  of  the  animal,  in  its  wild  state,  cannot  be  fully 
sustained  in  regions  of  the  most  luxuriant  vegetation,  but  subject  to 
occasional  slight  frosts,  how  are  we  to  svippose,  for  a  moment,  that 
elephants  could  have  lived  in  the  temperate  or  frozen  regions  of  the 
earth  ^ 


184  GEOLOGY  OF  SCRIPTURE. 

very  mischievous  and  savage  animal  is  equally  a  native  of 
the  hottest  and  most  wooded  countries ;  and  we,  therefore, 
come  to  the  same  conclusion  with  regard  to  it,  that  we  have 
reached  with  regard  to  the  various  races  of  elephants,  viz. 
that  it  never  could  have  been  the  inhabitant  of  a  very  cold 
climate. 

"  The  rhinoceros  is  an  animal  whose  natural  history  is 
very  imperfectly  known.  He  resides  in  impervious  jungles 
and  swamps  ;  he  is  seldom  to  be  found  on  the  west  of  the 
Ganges,  though  the  jungles  there  are  fully  competent  to 
afford  abundant  shelter ;  nor,  indeed,  has  an  elephant  ever 
been  seen  in  a  wild  state,  but  to  the  east  of  that  noble  stream. 
It  would  seem  that  these  animals  aj"e  partial  to  the  immense 
tracts  of  the  surput^  or  tassel  grass,  which  skirts  the  vast 
jungles  bordering  our  possessions  on  that  side;  and  which, 
being  composed  of  lofty  forests  of  saul  and  sissoo  trees, 
filled  up  with  various  sorts  of  underwood,  offer  an  asylum  to 
the  ferine  species,  such  as  cannot  be  equalled  in  any  part  of 
Europe,  and  can  be  compared  only  with  the  prodigious 
wilds  of  the  American  interior." 

The  rhinoceros  is  never  seen  in  herds,  nor  often  even  in 
pairs.  He  may,  tlierefore,  be  properly  termed,  like  the  largest 
wild  boars,  and  the  oldest  chamois,  a  solitaire. 

We  may  now  shortl)'^  pass  under  review  the  opinions  of  the 
late  Baron  Cuvier,  on  the  subject  of  fossil  remains.  This 
able  philosopher  has  long  been  considered  the  head  of  the 
scientific  world  on  the  continent;  and  his  indefatigable  re- 
search, and  wonderful  anatomical  knowledge,  have  given  him 
the  highest  claims  to  our  esteem  and  regard  in  many  branches 
of  geological  research.  We  have  already  found,  however, 
that  his  theories  of  the  earth,  and  of  the  numerous  revolutions 
to  which  he  supposed  it  had  been  subjected,  were  not  founded 
on  what  history  teaches,  or  physical  facts  bear  witness  to; 
and,  therefore,  we  cannot  be  surprised,  if  we  find,  on  the  sub- 
ject of  fossil  remains,  some  portion  of  that  contradiction  and 
inconsistency  which  must  always  attend  a  departure,  how- 
ever well  meant  and  unintentional,  from  the  direct  and  simple 
path  of  truth. 

On  the  subject  of  the  fossil  elephant,  as  published  in  his 
"  Ossemtns  Fossiles,''^  vol.  i.  p.  199,  &c.  Cuvier  designates  it 
"The  Mammoth  of  the  Russians,  (Elephas  primigenius, 
Blum.)  or  elephant  with  prolonged  cranium,  concave  fore- 
head, very  deep  sockets  for  the  tusks  ;  lower  jaw  ^obtuse  ; 
grinders  very  large,  parallel,  and  marked  with  narrow  stripes. 


GEOLOGY  OP  SCRIPTURE.  185 

"The  bones  of  this  animal  are  only  found  in  a  fossil  state  : 
they  are  in  great  numbers  in  many  countries,  but  better  pre- 
served in  the  nwth  than  elsewhere.  It  resembled  the  Indian 
rather  than  the  African  species.  It  differed,  however,  from 
the  former  in  the  grinders,  in  the  form  of  the  lower  jaw,  and 
in  many  other  bones,  but  especially  in  the  length  of  the  sock- 
ets for  the  tusks.  This  latter  character  must  have  modified, 
in  a  remarkable  manner,  the  form  and  organization  of  the 
trunk,  and  have  g-iven  him  an  appeaj^nce  much  more  dissim- 
ilar to  the  Asiatic  elephant,  than  could  be  expected  from  the 
general  resemblance  of  the  rest  of  the  bones.  It  appears 
that  his  tusks  were  g-enerally  large,  often  more  m-  less 
bent  ilka  spiral  form,  and  pointing  outwards.  His  size  was 
not  much  greater  than  that  which  the  Asiatic  race  sometimes 
attains ;  and  he  appears  to  have  had,  in  general,  a  more  thick 
and  solid  form.  We  cannot  determine  what  was  the  size  of 
his  ears,  nor  the  colour  of  his  skin,  but  it  is  certain,  that  at 
least  some  of  the  species  had  two  sorts  of  hair;  viz.  a  reddish 
wool,  coarse  and  bushy,  with  stiff  black  hairs,  which,  upon 
the  neck,  and  along  the  back,  were  pretty  long,  and  formed  a 
sort  of  mane. 

"  Thus,  there  is  not  only  nothing  impossible  in  his  having 
been  able  to  support  a  degree  of  cold,  in  which  the  Asiatic 
race  would  die ;  but  it  is  even  probable,  that  he  was  so  con- 
stituted, as  to  prefer  cold  climates.  His  bones  are  usually- 
found  in  the  upper  alluvial  beds  of  the  earth ;  and  most  com- 
monly in  those  which  Jill  the  hollows  of  valleys,  or  which  form 
the  beds  of  rivers. 

"  They  are  scarcely  ever  alone,  but  pelemele,  together  with 
the  bones  of  other  quadrupeds  of  known  kinds,  as  rhinoceros, 
ox,  antelope,  horse,  and  frequently  with  the  remains  of  ma- 
rine animals,  such  as  shells,  &c.,  some  of  which  are  even 
fixed  upon  them. 

"  The  positive  testimony  of  Pallas,  of  Fortis,  and  of  others, 
admits  not  of  a  doubt  with  respect  to  this  latter  circumstance, 
although  it  is  not  invariable.  I  have  now,  myself,  under  my 
eye,  a  portion  of  a  jaw,  loaded  with  millepores,  and  with  small 
oysters,* 

*In  the  splendid  collection  of  fossils  of  Dr.  Buckland,  at  Oxford, 
there  is  a  highly  interesting  specimen  of  one  of  the  ci'ocodile  tribe, 
obtained  from  the  quarry  at  Shotover,  near  that  city,  and  several 
hundred  feet  above  the  level  of  tlie  sea;  on  one  of  the  bones  of 
which  there  is  a  large  oyster  attached  ;  and  also  two  beautiful  and 


186  GEOLOGY  OF  SCRIPTURE. 

"The  bones  of  elephants  ^.xexmeXj  petrified ;  and  we  know 
of  but  one  or  two  instances  in  which  they  are  embedded  in 
shell  limestone  or  other  rock."  (Such  instances  are  as  good 
as  thousands,  for  the  purpose  of  showing  how  they  become 
thus  embedded.) 

"  Every  thing,  then,  announces,  that  the  cause  of  their  des- 
truction was  one  of  the  most  recent  of  those  events  which 
have  contributed  to  change  the  surface  of  the  globe.  It  was, 
however,  a  physical  an^  general  cause.  That  cause  was  an 
aqueous  agent. 

"But  it  was  not  these  waters  which  transported  them  to  the 
places  where  they  now  are.  An  irruption  of  the  sea,  which 
would  only  have  brought  them  from  where  the  Indiiin  ele- 
phants now  inhabit,  could  not  have  spread  them  to  such  a 
distance,  nor  dispersed  them  so  equally." 

It  would  appear  from  this  remark  of  Cuvier,  that  he  had 
no  belief  in  the  general  and  total  immersion  of  the  whole  dry 
lands  of  the  earth,  at  the  period  of  the  deluge;  and  he  must, 
therefore,  probably  have  considered  the  Mosaic  account  of 
"  all  the  hills,  upon  the  whole  earth,  being  covered,"  as  a 
mere  piece  of  Eastern  allegory.  Such  ^^  irruptions  of  the 
sea,''''  as  he  had  in  view  in  the  above  remark,  must  have  been 
considered  as  only  partial  convulsions,  and  producing  such 
partial  effects  as  he  there  alludes  to.  Had  he  believed  in  a 
general  aqueous  covering  over  the  whole  globe,  for  the  space  of 
several  months,  and  had  he  then  considered  the  laws  of  nature^ 
acting,  in  this  flood  of  waters,  on  the  floating  bodies  of  the 
animal  world,  by  tides  and  currents,  this  able  naturalist  and 
philosopher  could  not  but  have  perceived,  that  it  was  only  by 
such  means,  that  so  "  equal  a  dispersion'''  of  animal  remains 
could  possibly  have  been  effected. 

After  some  other  equally  unsatisfactory  reasoning,  Cuvier 
expresses  his  idea  of  the  impossibility  of  entire  carcasses  having 
been  transported  to  such  distances  by  violence. 

"  It  is  true,"  says  he,  "  that  in  such  a  case,  the  bones  would 
have  been  xinworn  hy  friction ;  but  then  they  would  have  re- 
mained together,  and  not  been  found  so  scattered  as  they  now 
often  are. 

"  Every  thing  then  renders  it  extremely  probable,  that  the 
elephants  to  which  these  fossil  bones  belonged,  inhabited  the 

perfect  specimens  of  the  ammomte,  Avith  the  shell  entire,  and  seem- 
ingly fixed  to  the  bone  by  suction,  as  a  snail  adheres  to  a  stone  ox- 
plant. 


GEOLOGY  OF  SCRIPTURE.  187 

countries  where  we  now  find  their  remains.  They  were  there 
scattered,  as  the  bones  of  horses  and  of  other  animals  now 
are,  over  our  own  lands,  the  carcasses  of  which  are  found  in 
our  fields."* 

"  But,  whatever  that  cause  was,  it  must  have  hecn  a  sud- 
den ONE.  The  bones,  so  perfectly  preserved  in  the  plains  of 
Siberia,  could  only  have  been  so  from  the  effect  of  cold.  If 
this  cold  had  only  come  on  by  degrees  arid  slowly,  the  bones, 
and  especially  the  softer  parts,  would  have  had  time  to  be- 
come decomposed,  like  those  we  nowjind  in  our  fields.'''' 

The  remark  cannot  here  be  omitted,  how  contradictory  is 
the  reasoning  of  the  baron  in  this  place.  He  first  considers, 
that  the  bones  of  the  animals  must  have  been  scattered  over 
the  country,  like  those  of  our  domestic  cattle,  in  the  present 
day ;  and  ought  to  have  been  "  decomposed,  like  those  we 
now  find  in  our  fields  ;"  and  then  proceeds  to  show,  that 
they  are  not  decomposed,  but  preserved  entire  by  a  sudden 
convulsion,  and  excessive  low  temperature.  We  seldom 
find,  in  our  own  times,  and  in  our  Inland  counties,  the  bones 
of  cattle  covered  with  oysters,  or  other  sea  animals.  But 
if  we  suppose  a  bone,  or  an  entire  animal,  to  remain  for  a 
few  weeks,   subject  to  the  action  of  the  tides  and  of  the 

*  I  have  been  informed  by  Colonel  Sykes,  than  whom  we  can  have 
no  higher  authority  on  such  a  subject,  from  his  long  residence  in  the 
East,  and  die  great  attention  and  ability  which  he  has  displayed  on 
every  subject  connected  with  science,  that,  as  far  as  his  observation 
goes,  it  may  be  looked  upon  as  a  striking  and  extraordinary  fact, 
that  in  the  forests  of  India,  peopled  as  they  are  by  thousands  of  ani- 
mals of  every  size,  and  of  which  there  must  naturally  be  a  consider- 
able annual  destruction  as  well  as  increase,  the  bones,  or  other  re- 
mains of  the  dead,  are  scarcely  ever  to  be  seen.  We  cannot,  indeed, 
wonder  that  tliis  should  be  the  case,  when  we  consider  the  laws  of 
nature,  by  which  so  just  a  balance  is  at  all  times  kept  up.  In  so  hot 
a  climate  as  that  of  the  tropics,  the  decay  of  the  softer  parts  must  be 
most  rapid  ;  and  in  order  to  obviate  the  bad  consequences  which 
would  attend  this  natural  course,  we  find  myriads  of  the  insect  tribe 
at  all  times  ready  to  remove  what  the  birds  and  beasts  of  prey  can- 
not readily  consume.  A  large  animal  body,  therefore,  would  almost 
entirely  disappear  in  the  covu'se  of  a  few  days  ;  and  even  the  bones 
must  soon  become  decomposed  under  the  powerful  action  of  so  hot 
an  atmosphere.  It  is  almost  proverbial  even  in  our  own  woods,  well 
stocked  as  they  are  with  hares  and  other  game,  hoAv  seldom  we  dis- 
cover any  indication  of  natural  death.  In  the  animal  world,  in  eveiy 
climate,  each  individual  becomes  the  prey  of  his  fellow,  for  "  dust 
w^e  are, and  unto  dust  we  soon  return." 


188  GEOLOGY  OF  SCRIPTURE. 

currents,  we  should  not  be  surprised  at  finding  upon  it,  wliat 
every  piece  of  floating  wreck  is  generally  covered  with. 

"  It  would  have  been  especially  impossible  for  the  carcase 
seen  and  described  by  Mr.  Adams,  to  have  preserved  its  Jlesh 
and  its  skin  ENTiHE,  if  it  had  not  been  immediately  eiiveloped 
in  the  ice  in  which  it  was  found."  We  must  here  pause 
one  moment  in  our  perusal  of  Cuvier's  argument,  to  consider 
what  effect  would  have  been  produced  by  this  sudden /orma- 
tionofanicy  bed,  on  the  woods  and  jungles  through  which 
this  shaggy  monster  must  naturally  have  been  wandering, 
when  embraced  and  sealed  up  by  so  sudden  a  disaster.  The 
same  element  which  had  so  preservative  an  effect  upon  his 
unwieldy  carcase,  must  have  entirely  decomposed  or  evapo- 
rated the  vegetable  productions  on  which  he  fed  ;  as  they  are 
no  where  to  be  found  in  any  part  of  the  frozen  regions,  even 
preserved  in  ice. 

"  Thus,"  continues  he,  "  the  hypothesis  of  a  gradual 
cooling  of  the  globe,  or  of  a  slow  variation  of  its  temperature, 
either  from  inclinafion,  or  from  the  position  of  its  axis,  falls 
to  the  ground  by  its  own  weight.'''' 

We  may  here  remark,  that  this  groundless  hypothesis  was 
proposed  by  BufFon,  as  we  have  already  had  occasion  to  notice. 

'•  The  various  mastodons,  hippopotami,  rhinoceri,  &c., 
must  have  inhabited  the  same  countries  and  the  same  dis- 
tricts, as  the  fossil  elephants,  since  we  find  their  bones  in 
the  same  situations,  and  in  the  same  condition.  One  cannot 
imagine  any  cause  which  would  have  destroyed  the  one  and 
spared  the  other.  And  yet  the  first,  most  certainly,  no  longer 
exist,  as  we  shall  show  in  subsequent  chapters." 

"  The  elephant  is  the  existing  animal  which  most  resem- 
bles the  mastodon  ;  and  may  serve  as  the  principle  object  of 
comparison.  In  short,  I  call  mastodon,  quadrupeds  of  the 
size  and  form  of  the  elephant,  having,  like  him,  a  trunk,  and 
long  tusks  ;  the  feet  of  the  same  structure  ;  and,  in  a  word, 
only  differing  in  an  essential  manner  in  the  molar  teeth, 
which,  instead  of  being  formed  of  transversal  laminae,  had  a 
simple  crown,  and  were  furnished  with  tubercles  or  rounded 
points,  more  or  less  numerous,  and  more  or  less  prominent. 

"  Our  continents  do  not  now  nourish  any  animals  of  this 

exact  kind  ;  although  the  upper  strata  contain  the  bones  of 

three  or  four  different  varieties." — Ossemens  Fossiles,  vol.  i. 

chap.  ii.  p.  205. 

Such  are  the  ideas  of  Baron  Cuvier  on  the  subject  of  the 


GEOLOGY  OF  SCRIPTURE.  189 

fossil  elephant:  and  as  it  may  be  truly  said,  that  the  whole 
question  of  fossil  remains,  and,  consequently,  many  of  the 
most  important  and  fundamental  points  in  geolog-y  in  gene- 
ral, turn  upon  the  true  and  consistent  history  of  those  ele- 
phants now  found  in  northern  latitudes,  it  cannot  be  considered 
irrelevant  to  our  purpose,  to  have  gone,  at  considerable  length, 
into  the  opinions  of  some  of  the  great  leaders  of  science  on 
so  fundamental  a  subject.  To  all  who  have  considered, 
with  an  unprejudiced  mind,  the  course  and  tendency  of  the 
arguments  which  have  been  urged,  in  opposition  to  these 
generally  received  theories  on  the  subject  of  tropical  produc- 
tions in  polar  regions,  it  must  appear  unnecessary,  in  this 
place,  to  proceed  further  with  the  subject.  It  has  been 
clearly  shown,  that  no  elephant  could  possibly  find  subsis- 
tence in  those  inclement  and  barren  regions  at  the  present 
time.  It  is  equally  clear,  that  had  a  sudden  change  of  tem- 
perature, with  an  irruption  of  the  sea,  overwhelmed  and 
frozen  up  the  animal  productions  of  the  antediluvian  world, 
in  what  are  now  the  polar  regions,  we  must  equally  have 
discovered,  in  the  ice  which  has  preserved  them,  a  perfect 
and  entire  series  of  the  vegetable  productions,  amongst 
which,  it  is  admitted,  they  must  have  livedo  and  without  which 
there  is  no  conceivable  way  of  accounting  for  the  supply  of 
food  necessary  for  such  vast  numbers  of  gigantic  animals. 
When  we  add  to  this  incontrovertible  point,  the  consistent 
and  natural  method  by  which  those  animal  bodies  might  have 
been  transpoi'ted^  by  an  agent  in  the  common  laws  of  nature, 
to  which  the  waters  of  the  earth  have  been  subjected  by  the 
Creator,  for  a  great  and  benificent  purpose,  we  cannot  retain 
a  doubt  as  to  the  actual  means  by  which  those  larger  animals 
were  conve3'ed  to  their  icy  beds  in  the  polar  regions ;  and 
having  arrived  at  this  conclusion,  with  respect  to  those  now 
found  within  the  arctic  circle,  we  have  every  right  to  judge, 
by  the  same  line  of  reasoning,  concerning  all  other  tropical 
productions  in  unnatural  climates,  on  every  part  of  the  sur- 
face of  the  earth ;  and,  consequently,  that  the  globe  has 
undergone  no  material  change  in  its  position,  nor  in  its  tem- 
perature, since  the  creation. 

Our  inquiries  have,  it  is  to  be  hoped,  led  us  to  a  consistent 
and  natural  conclusion  on  the  whole  question  of  fossil  re- 
mains;  and  we  thus  find,  that  in  adopting  the  system  of 
geology,  grounded  on  the  Inspired  History,  and  so  strongly 
supported  by  the  evidence  of  physical  facts,  instead  of  those 


190  GEOLOGY  OF  SCRIPTURE. 

philosophical  theories,  founded  on  physical  facts,  but  rejecting 
the  evidence  of  Scripture  ;  the  current  of  the  narrative  runs 
smoothly  along,  and  our  minds  feel  satisfied,  and  at  rest,  in- 
stead of  being  constantly  suspended  in  doubt  and  uncertainty. 
If  we  come  to  the  conclusion,  that  all  the  present  drylands 
of  the  earth  were  formerly  the  bed  of  the  antediluvian  sea, 
and  that  Britain  was  no  exception  to  this,  (as  is  evident  from 
the  appearances  every  where  visible  around  us,)  it  must 
follow  as  a  corollary,  that  all  the  fossil  remains  of  quadru- 
peds, whether  in  our  upper  soils,  or  in  the  upper  strata  of 
rock,  over  the  whole  earth,  must  have  been  lodged  in  their 
present  situations  by  the  waters  of  that  destructive  deluge,  of 
which  we  have  now  been  treating.* 

*  Since  writing  the  above,  one  of  the  most  remarkable  works  of 
our  times  has  appeared,  in  which  we  find  the  following  passage  : — 

"  It  appears,  from  the  marine  shells  found  on  the  tops  of  tlie  high- 
est mountains,  and  in  almost  every  part  of  the  globe,  that  immense 
continents  have  been  elevated  above  the  ocean,  which  must  have  in- 
gulfed others. 

"Such  a  catastrophe  would  be  occasioned  by  a  variation  in  the 
position  of  the  axis  of  rotation  on  the  surface  of  the  earth ;  for  tlie 
seas  would  leave  some  portions  of  the  globe,  and  would  overwhelm 
others.  But  theory  proves,  that  neither  nutation,  precession,  nor  any 
of  the  disturbing  forces  which  affect  the  system,  have  the  smallest  in- 
fluence on  the  axis  of  rotation,  which  maintains  a  permanent  position 
on  the  surface,  if  the  eai'th  be  not  disturbed  in  its  rotation  by  some 
foreign  cause,  as  the  collision  of  a  comet,  which  may  have  happened 
in  the  immensity  of  time."  The  able  authoress  then  pi-oceeds  to 
show  how  little  influence  tlie  sea  would  have,  even  in  such  a  case, 
upon  the  general  equilibrium;  and  concludes  thus, — "  It  thus  ap- 
pears, that  a  great  change  in  the  position  of  tlie  axis  is  incompatible 
with  the  law  of  equilibrium  ;  therefore,  the  geological  phenomena 
(of  fossils)  must  be  ascribed  to  an  internal  cause.  Thus,  amidst  the 
mighty  revolutions  which  have  swept  innumerable  races  of  orga- 
nized beings  from  the  earth,  which  have  elevated  plains,  and  buried 
mountains  in  the  ocean,  the  rotation  of  the  eai'th,  and  the  position  of 
the  axis  on  its  surface,  have  undergone  but  slight  variations. "— »Me- 
chanism  of  the  Heavens,  by  J\Irs.  Somer-ville. 

Upon  the  above  passage,  the  Quarterly  Review  has  remarked,  that 
"  the  lunar  theory  teaches  us,  that  the  internal  strata,  as  well  as  the 
external  outline  of  our  globe,  are  elliptical  ;  their  centres  being  co- 
incident, and  their  axis  identical  with  that  of  the  surface  ;  a  state  of 
things  incompatible  with  any  subsequent  accommodation  of  the  sur- 
face, to  a  new  and  difi'erent  state  of  rotation  from  that  which  deter- 
mined the  original  distribution  of  tlie  component  matter." — Quar- 
terly Review,  No.  xciv.  p.  552. 
Although  I  cannot  subscribe  to  the   doctrine  which   dictated  the 


GEOLOGY  OF  SCRIPTURE.  191 

latter  part  of  tlie  above  remark,  nor  to  tlie  idea  of  Mrs,  Somerville, 
that  the  collision  of  a  comet  "  may  have  happened  in  the  immensity 
of  time,"  although,  we  tlms  have  acknowledged  proof  against  the 
probability  of  any  such  collision,  which  is,  therefore,  quite  uncalled 
for  ;  we  must  hail,  Avitli  pleasure,  the  step  that  has  thus  been  gained 
by  the  admission  of  so  able  an  authority.  The  theoiy  of  a  change 
in  the  axis  of  the  earth,  which  was  only  engendered  for  the  purpose 
of  accounting  for  tropical  productions,  in  polar  latitudes,  is,  there- 
fore, for  ever  destroyed  ;  and  we  thus  arrive  at  the  same  point  by 
various  different  roads. 

After  this  coucession,  that  the  phenomena  of  geology  must  have 
originated  in  a  cause  not  exieimal  to  ovu-  earth,  we  may  hope,  that 
the  true  iuternal  cause  will,  ere  long,  be  equally  admitted.  One 
other  such  departure  from  the  usual  theories  of  the  deluge  and.h  e 
union  which  is  every  day  approaching,  between  Philosophy  and 
Scripture,  will  be  at  length  completed. 


SUPPLEMENTARY  PART  TO  CHAPTER  XI. 


Since  entering  upon  the  subject  of  the  Geology  of  Scrip- 
ture, the  evidences  in  support  of  the  p^eneral  principles, 
which  have  been  explained  in  the  foregoing  chapters,  have 
so  crov^'ded  upon  rhy  observation,  that  I  have  experienced 
some  difficulty  in  confining  myself  within  those  limits  which 
•I  had  previously  laid  down,  in  order  to  bring  my  work  within 
the  compass  of  one  single  volume.  In  a  late  journey  which 
I  have  had  occasion  to  make  throughout  a  great  part  of  the 
longitudinal  extent  of  the  kingdom^  I  have  found,  in  every 
direction,  the  most  complete  corroborative  proofs  of  the  solid 
foundation  on  which  the  Scripture  system  is  constructed. 
Amongst  many  of  these  proofs,  I  cannot  resist  the  present 
opportunity,  of  giving  some  short  account  of  a  few  of  the 
most  remarkable  ;  the  particular  importance  of  which  must 
at  once  be  acknowledged  by  every  candid  student  in  this 
interesting  science.  I  allude  particularly  to  the  subject  of 
entire  fossil  irees^  frequently,  of  late,  discovered  in  the  coal 
strata;  and  to  that  of  the  foot-marks  of  animals  distinctly 
imprinted  upon  the  sand  when  in  a  soft  state,  and  discovered 
on  the  upper  surface  of  the  strata  in  several  free-stone  quarries. 

The  instances  of  entire  fossil  stems  of  trees,  and  nume- 
rous smaller  plants,  have  long  been  remarked  in  the  coal 
formations  in  various  countries ;  and  have,  also,  been  noticed 
in  the  former  part  of  this  work.  But  the  stems  of  the  larger 
plants  have,  hitherto,  in  general,  been  observed  to  lie  in  the 
same  direction  as  the  strata  themselves ;  and,  consequently, 
they  could  afford  us  little  or  no  indication  of  the  period  at 
which  they  were  embedded,  or  of  the  time  necessary  for 
their  having  become  surrounded  by  their  present  mineral 
envelope.  Late  observations,  however,  have  thrown  a  new 
and  vivid  light  upon  this  hitherto  obscure  subject.     Trees, 


GEOLOGY  OF  SCRIPTURE.  193 

of  very  considerable  size,  have  been  found,  placed  in  a  posi- 
tion perpendicular  to  the  direction  of  the  beds  or  strata,  and 
intersecting-  many  of  these,  of  various  kinds  and  thickness. 
One  of  the  first  that  attracted  particular  notice  in  the  North, 
was  found  in  Craigleith  free-stone  quarry,  in  1826,  where  the 
different  visible  strata  exist  to  the  extent  of  IGO  feet  in  depth  ; 
and  upwards  of  60  feet  more  are  known  to  lie  below,  which 
have  not  yet  seen  the  light  of  day. 

The  stone  in  this  immense  quarry  is  of  very  white  and 
pure-grained  quality,  and  is  the  same  which  we  find  forming 
the  roof  of  the  coal  beds  in  many  of  the  Lothian  collieries. 
It  is  every  where,  more  or  less,  marked  with  impressions  of 
leaves  and  stems,  which  are,  in  this  case,  however,  far  from 
the  coal  seams,  but  the  latter  of  which  invariably  present  a 
thin  surrounding  mass  of  the  purest  jewel  coal,  generally 
about  a  quarter  of  an  inch  round  the  bark ;  the  whole  of  the 
rest  of  the  interior  being  filled  with  the  same  mineral  in  which 
it  is  embedded.  These  fossil  stems  are  called,  by  the  miners, 
coal  pipes^  ignorant  as  they  are  of  their  real  nature.  This 
small  portion  of  the  purest  coal,  serves  to  give  us  considera- 
ble insight  into  the  nature  of  the  larger  beds  of  this  fossil 
production,  which  are  evidently  the  consequence  of  great 
pressure,  and  some  chemical  process,  connected  with  the 
nature  of  the  wood  itself,  with  which,  however,  we  have,  as 
yet,  no  acquaintance.  In  1830,  a  second  and  more  remarka- 
ble fossil  tree  was  exposed  to  view  in  this  quarry;  and  ex- 
cited, from  its  particular  position,  a  degree  of  interest  which 
no  other  vegetable  fossil  could  before  lay  claim  to.  Its  total 
length  was  upwards  of  60  feet;  and  at  an  angle  of  about  40  de- 
grees it  intersected  10  or  12  different  strata  of  the  sand-stone. 
Its  diameter  at  the  top  was  about  seven  inches ;  and  it  had 
become  flattened  by  pressure  near  its  base,  in  such  a  manner 
as  to  measure  ^j;e /ee^,  in  its  greater,  and  two  feet  in  its  lesser 
diameter.  There  were  no  branches,  nor  marks  of  them  on 
its  bark;  nor  were  there  any  roots,  although  the  lower  part 
formed  a  species  of  bulb.  As  in  the  former  specimen,  the 
bark  had  been  converted  into  a  thin  coat  of  the  j)urest  and 
finest  coal;  and  the  whole,  as  it  lay  exposed  in  the  quarry, 
presented  the  appearance  of  charred  wood,  forming  a  striking 
contrast  in  colour  with  the  white  stone  in  which  it  lay. 

Before  making  any  remarks  upon  the  important  evidence 
depending  on  this  fossil,  I  shall  describe  some  other  instances, 
which  have  come  within  my  knowledge,  of  trees  standing  in 
r2 


194  GEOLOGY  OF  SCRIPTURE. 

an  upright  or  slightly  sloping  position,  and  intersecting  a 
great  variety  of  strata. 

In  a  colliery,  near  Dalkeith,  which  I  lately  inspected,  I 
found  a  stem  of  nearly  two  feet  in  diameter,  proceeding  out 
of  the  floor  of  the  coal  seam,  passing  through  the  coal  itself, 
and  entering  the  roof  above.  In  the  floor,  and  in  the  roof,  it 
was  pcti-i fled,  whilst,  in  passing  through  the  coal  stratum,  it 
had  become  one  mass  of  pure  coal,  and  its  shape  was  with  diffi- 
culty distinguished.  How  far  its  top  or  roots  extended  could 
not  be  ascertained  ;  but  it  is  probable  that  it  was  of  much 
greater  length  than  met  the  eye. 

In  Cullelo  sand-stone  quarry,  near  Aberdour,  in  Fife,  num- 
bers of  trees  are  found,  supposed  to  be  of  the  palm-tribe,  and 
often  intersecting  the  strata  in  the  rock. 

In  Killingworth  colliery,  north  of  Newcastle,  there  are 
many  large  fossil  trees  discovered  in  the  coal  strata,  and  they 
frequently  have  some  indication  of  roots.  One  of  these  is 
particularly  described  and  figured  by  Mr.  Wood,  in  the  Trans- 
actions of  the  Natural  History  Society  of  Northumberland. 
Its  roots  rested  in  the  shale,  immediately  above  the  coal  bed, 
and  its  stem  pierced  10  or  12  different  strata. 

In  Wideopen  free-stone  quarry,  near  the  house  at  Gos- 
forth,  in  Northumberland,  a  tree,  of  70  feet  in  length,  and 
lying  across  the  strata,  was  lately  discovered  in  a  petrified 
state. 

In  Jarrow  colliery,  also,  similar  plants  are  found  in  con- 
siderable abundance ;  and  in  the  Gosforth  pit,  down  which  I 
lately  went,  (a  depth  of  190  fathoms  in  one  shaft,  being  the 
deepest  now  in  the  kingdom,)  I  found  the  roof  of  the  main 
coal  stratum  to  be  entirely  composed,  in  many  places,  of 
trunks  of  trees,  lying  in  every  direction,  and  of  very  con- 
siderable size.* 

From  all  these  instances,  (and  many  others  might  be  quo- 
ted if  it  were  necessary,)  we  cannot  but  perceive,  that  our 

*  I  cannot  here  omit  remarking,  that  in  Jarrow  colliery,  the  muscle 
beds  or  strata,  containing  sea  shells,  are  very  abundant'  I  saw  some 
specimens  of  these  shells  in  the  museum  at  Newcastle  ;  they  exactly 
resemble  those  muscles  found  in  tlie  blue  clay,  reposing  on  the  chalk 
at  Pegwell,  in  Kent. 

I  also  find,  that  in  some  of  the  coal  pits  in  Scotland,  (and  that  of 
the  Drum,  near  Dalkeith,  was  particularly  mentioned, )  sea  shells, 
as  large  as  oysters,  are  frequently  found  in  the  roof  of  the  coal  stra- 
tum, as  if  they  had  been  stuck  into  clay  from  below. 


GEOLOGY  OF  SCRIPTURE.  IPS 

previous  notions  of  the  formation  of  strata  in  general,  have 
been  of  the  most  erroneous  description  ;  for  when  we  look  at 
a  lofty  cliff  of  sand-stone  rock,  without  any  embedded  fossil, 
we  at  once  conceive  to  ourselves  the  vast  length  of  time  which 
we  had  been  taught,  by  geology,  to  assign,  for  so  extensive 
and  gradual  a  formation.  But  such  an  example  as  the  Craig- 
leith  fossil  tree  exhibits,  must  serve  at  once  to  show,  that  in- 
stead of  thousands  or  millions  of  years,  for  such  deposits  of 
sand-stone  rock,  but  a  very  short  time  indeed  must  have  been 
occupied  in  the  formation  of  the  whole  of  this  quarry ;  and, 
consequently,  of  the  whole  coal  formation  which  rests 
below  it.  The  tree  could  not  possibly  have  remained 
in  a  reclining  posture,  if  only  held  by  a  few  of  the  stra- 
ta near  its  base.  Nor  could  it  have  been  long  exposed  with 
its  top  protruding  in  air  or  in  water;  a  few  passing  waves, 
or,  at  most,  a  few  days  of  the  agitated  and  turbid  waters 
of  the  deluge,  must  have  been  sufficient  for  the  formation 
of  the  whole  bed  in  which  it  is  now  found,  and  which  we  are 
apt  to  look  upon  as  of  vast  extent.  In  the  same  manner  we 
are  instructed  by  those  fossil  stems,  which  pass  through  a 
coal  bed  from  the  floor,  into  the  strata  above,  to  a  great  height. 
These  are  only  further  indications  and  proofs  of  the  truth  of 
what  I  have  before  stated,  that  the  formation  of  coal,  under 
every  circumstance,  must  be  attributed  to  the  progressive 
sinking  and  covering  up  of  the  diluvial  vegetable  ruin  at  the 
period  of  the  flood;  and  that  this  invaluable  fossil  production, 
in  its  present  state,  has  been  the  result  of  prodigious  pressure 
on  the  one  hand,  and  of  chemical  action  on  the  other. 

We  cannot,  for  a  moment,  doubt  that  all  the  beds  through 
which  these  stems  now  pass,  were  once  in  a  soft  or  semi- 
fluid state,  like  the  sands  upon  the  sea  shore,  about  the  eb- 
bing of  the  tide.  The  whole  strata,  however  horizontal  they 
must  once  have  been,  have  since  become  more  or  less  derang- 
ed, not  by  elevation,  but  by  depression ;  and  upon  this  principle 
alone  I  have  already  explained  the  origin  and  cause  of  the 
slips,  dykes,  and  troubles,  so  well  known  in  all  mining  coun- 
tries. We  now  account,  in  a  natural  and  consistent  manner, 
for  a  large  proportion  of  all  the  upper  soils  and  strata  with 
which  the  surface  of  the  present  earth  is  covered.  Let  us  only 
suppose,  for  a  moment,  a  greater  number  of  these  fossil  stems 
acting,  as  they  do,  as  ineasures,  cast  into  various  parts  of  the 
diluvial  strata,  one  above  another.  If  a  series  of  twelve  or 
fourteen  solid  beds  of  sand-stone,  and  other  strata  of  the  coal 


196  GEOLOGY  OF  SCRIPTURE. 

formation,  were  formed  in  the  short  space  of  time  necessary 
to  support  one  tree  of  sixty  or  seventy  feet  long,  in  a  reclining 
posture,  we  have  a  full  right  to  carry  our  ideas  much  further 
on  the  same  scale.  Our  notions  of  lacustrine  quiet  deposits, 
in  an  immense  period  of  years,  must  be  for  ever  laid  aside 
with  reg-ard  to  the  coal  fields.  The  presence  of  sea  shells,  in 
even"  a  few  of  the  coal  strata,  is  sufficient  for  the  total  destruc- 
tion of  this  long  received  theory.  And  if  we  are  forced  to 
give  up  this  proof  of  the  great  antiquity  of  the  glohe,  we  must 
naturally  enter  upon  that  more  consistent  and  well  defined 
system  presented  to  our  contemplation  in  the  geology  of 
Scripture.  We  thus  attain,  by  these  vegetable  evidences,  the 
same  strong  ground  we  had  already  taken  up,  by  the  testimo- 
ny of  animal  fossil  bodies,  on  every  part  of  the  earth's  surface. 
Every  thing  is  consistent  and  agreeable  to  history,  instead  of 
being  contradictory  in  all  its  parts,  and  directly  opposed  to 
what  the  Sacred  Narrative  so  plainly  lays  before  us. 

I  feel  it  scarcely  necessary  here  to  remark  upon  the  singu- 
lar notion  entertained,  by  some,  of  these  fossil  trees  having 
grown  in  the  sandy  or  argillaceous  strata  in  which  they  now 
happen  to  lie.  This  mistake  arises,  like  most  of  the  other 
erroneous  notions  in  geology,  in  the  constant  idea  that  we  are 
now  living  upon  the  antediluvian  dry  lauds  ;  an  idea  v/hich 
we  have  already  found  it  necessary  entirely  to  lay  aside.  Had 
the  trees  grown  where  we  now  find  them,  their  roots  must 
have  been  fixed  on  a  different  material  from  that  which  now 
covers  the  stems;  and  we  must  have  discovered,  which  has 
never  yet  been  done,  some  indication  of  a  former  soil,  suited 
to  the  nourishment  of  so  rich  a  vegetation.* 

*  la  a  lately  published  work  of  Mr.  Lyell,  to  which  allusion  has, 
more  than  once,  been  made,  and  in  which  that  able  writer  takes  a 
very  Inminous  view  of  the  secondary  causes  in  constant  action  on 
the  sui-face  of  the  earth,  we  find  a  very  strikhig  (though  altogether 
unintentional)  argument  against  the  generally  received  theory,  of 
the  fossil  remains  of  tropical  quadrupeds  now  found  in  our  upper 
soils  and  strata  having  belonged  to  animals  formerly  naturalized  to 
our  climates,  and  inhabiting  our  "antediluvian  forests."  This  ar- 
gument is  found  in  his  account  of  the  formation  and  extent  of  peat 
mosses  in  the  North  of  Europe,  in  the  course  of  which,  this  author 
clearly  shows,  "  that  a  considerable  portion  of  the  Euro])ean  peat 
bogs  are  evidently  not  more  ancient  than  the  age  of  Julius  Ca;sar  ;"* 
an  admission  we  could  scarcely  have  looked  for,  from  a  writer, 

*  Pi-inciples  of  Geology,  vol.  ii.  p.  214. 


GEOLOGY  OF  SCRIPTURE.  197 

With  regard  to  the  fine  fossil  tree,  we  can  have  no  sort  of 
doubt  of  its  having  been  embedded,  together  with  all  the 
other  vegetable  matter  found  in  the  quarry  of  Craigleith,  in 
the  course  of  a  few  days,  or,  perhaps,  of  a  few  tides;  a  con- 

■whose  whole  theory  is  founded  on  "the  economy  of  Natui'e,"  hav- 
ing been  "  uniform,"  and  the  laws,  which  direct  the  changes  on  the 
earth,  having  "remained  invariably  the  same:"  for,  as  agreatpart 
of  his  woi-k  is  occupied  in  endeavouring  to  show  that  the  present 
system  of  Nature  has  been  regiUar,  and  lias  proceeded  in  the  same 
coui'se  for  millions  of  years,  we  can  in  no  way  account,  in  a  system 
of  such  indefinite  extent,  for  the  origin  and  growth  of  peat,  within, 
so  comparatively  trifling  an  era  as  the  days  of  the  Romans. 

"The  antlers,"  says  he,  "  of  large  and  full  grown  stags,  are 
amongst  the  most  common  and  conspicuous  remains  of  animals  in 
peat.  Bones  of  the  ox,  hog,  horse,  sheep,  and  other  herbivorous  ani- 
mals, also,  occur  ;  and  in  Ireland,  and  the  Isle  of  Man,  skeletons  of 
a  gigantic  elk  ;  but  no  remains  have  been  met  with  belonging  to 
those  extinct  quadrupeds,  of  which  the  living  congeners  inhabit 
warmer  latitudes,  such  as  the  elephant,  rhinoceros,  hippopotamus, 
hysena,  and  tiger,  though  these  are  so  common  in  superficial  deposits 
of  silt,  mud,  sand,  or  stalactite,  iu  various  localities  throughout 
Great  Britain."— Vol.  ii.  p.  218. 

Now,  it  must  be  evident  to  every  one,  that  if  England,  and  the 
rest  of  Europe,  where  peat  is  now  found  in  such  abundance,  (and 
containing  the  remains  of  animals  preserved  in  the  complete  manner 
peculiar  to  this  substance,)  were  formerly  in  existence  above  the 
waters,  and  were  covered  with  forests  and  wilds,  suited  to  the  shelter 
and  nourishment  of  elephants,  and  other  large  quadrupeds,  now 
confined  to  the  tropics,  tliere  can  be  no  conceivable  reason  why  peat 
should  not  have  been,  as  it  now  is,  in  constant  progress  ;  nor  is  it 
consistent  with  analogy  and  facts,  that  such  animals  as  are  said  to 
have  been  so  abundant  in  these  supposed  forests,  should  not  occa- 
sionall}^  have  been  found  in  such  situations.  In  this  d-Iemma  we 
naturally  look  for  the  means  by  which  so  great  an  inconsistency  is 
accounted  for  by  its  author,  who,  accordingly,  proceeds  as  follows  : 
"  Their  absence  seems  to  imply,  that  they  had  ceased  to  live  before 
the  atmosphere  of  this  part  of  the  world  acquired  that  cold  and  hu- 
mid character  ivhich  favours  the  groioth  of  peat."  Why  they 
"  ceased  to  live,"  we  have  no  reason  given,  nor  can  we  conceive  any 
reason  that  would  agree  with  the  rest  of  Mr.  Lyell's  tlieory.  Their 
disappearance  could  not  have  arisen  from  cold,  because  we  are  told 
by  this  author,  in  another  part  of  his  work,  when  treating  of  the 
fossils  of  the  polar  regions,  tliat  the  greater  part  of  the  elephants 
lived  in  Siberia,  after  it  had  become  subject  to  intense  cold,  which  is 
confirmed,  amongst  other  i-easons,  by  the  state  of  the  ivory,"  &c.* 
This  "  intense  cold"  could  not  have  existed  in  Siberia,  when  inhabi- 
ted by  elephants,  witliout  its  influence  being  also  extended,  as  in  our 

*  Principles  of  Geology,  vol.  i.  p.  3. 


198  GEOLOGY  OF  SCRIPTURE. 

jecture  for  which  we  shall  presently  find  that  there  are  the 
strong-est  possible  grounds.  And  as  this  free-stone  formation, 
of  at  least  220  feet  in  depth,  is  of  precisely  the  same  nature 
as  that  which  forms  the  roof  of  many  of  the  coal  beds  in  that 
neighbourhood,  and  containing-  -the  very  same  fossil  vegeta- 
ble productions,  we  come  at  once  to  the  strongest  evidence, 
both  as  to  the  natitre  and  the  period  of  the  whole  contents  of 
the  coal  basins;  and,  also,  of  the  very  great  rapidity  with 
which  they  must  have  been  deposited. 

All  these  facts  tend,  in  the  strongest  manner,  to  confirm 
the  opinions  I  have  before,  and  at  greater  length,  expressed ; 
that  the  coal  beds  were  formed  at  the  period  of  the  deluge, 

own  times,  over  Russia,  Germany,  Sweden,  and  England ;  and 
consequently,  these  countries  must  have,  eren  then,  enjoyed  precise- 
ly "that  cold  and  hvunid  character  which  favours  tiie  growth  of 
peat." 

"  Some  naturalists,"  says  Cuvier,  "reckon  much  on  the  thousands 
of  ages  which  they  accumulate  with  a  dash  of  their  pen  ^  but,  in  such 
matters,  we  cannot  venture  to  judge  of  what  might  be  produced  in  a 
long  time,  except  by  multiplying,  in  idea,  what  a  shorter  period 
does  produce. " 

We  have  never  yet  had  any  geological  account  of  the  extensive 
peat  mosses  which  ought  to  have  existed  in  the  "  antediluvian 
forests  of  Yorkshire,"  and  in  the  rest  of  Europe  ;  nor  can  we  readi- 
ly believe  that  elephants  and  rhinoceri,  could  have  inhabited  such 
forests,  or  passed  over  such  swamps,  without  having  been  occasional- 
ly buried  in  the  peat,  and  preserved  in  the  same  manner  as  cattle  are 
in  our  own  times. 

There  can,  perhaps,  be  no  stronger  ground  taken  up  for  the  sup- 
port of  the  Geology  of  Scripture,  or  for  the  destruction  of  the  theory 
of  indefinite  periods,  than  the  argument  arising  from  the  nature  and 
extent  of  peat  moss  ;  and,  by  doubling  the  short  period,  admitted  by 
Mr,  Lyell,  or,  obtaining  from  his  abundance,  so  trifling  a  boon  as  a 
couple  of  thousand  years  niore  than  he  has  already  freely  given  us, 
we  can  perfectly  account  for  its  comparatively  i-ecent  formation,  as 
well  as  for  the  total  absence  of  tropical  animals  and  plants.  Peat  is, 
as  Mr.  Lyell  has  well  explained,  a  recent  formation,  in  constant  pro- 
gi-ess  in  certain  favom^able  situations  and  circumstances.  It  is,  in 
shoi't,  of  post-diluvian  growth,  and  contains  only  such  animal  or 
vegetable  remains  as  ai-e  natural  to  our  Eui'opean  climates.  The 
beds  of  "  silt,  mud,  sand,  and  stalactite,"  in  which  tropical  organic 
remains  are  mixed  up  with  those  of  temperate  latitudes,  are  equally 
superficial  ;  but  they  owe  their  formation  to  a  different  period,  and 
to  a  different  cause.  They  arc  diluvial  formations  ;  and  as  they  owe 
their  origin  to  tliat  destructive  period,  we  cannot  wonder  that  they 
should  contain  proofs  of  the  indiscriminate  organic  ruin,  which 
natui-ally  resulted  from  that  preternatural  judgment. 


GEOLOGY  OF  SCRIPTURE.  l9Si 

by  successive  deposits  of  great  vegetable  masses,  which  must 
have  been  matted  together,  and  floating  on  the  waters  at  that 
eventful  time ;  and  that  the  contents  of  all  the  basins  of  geolo- 
gists, whether  containing  coal,  or  not,  must  have  also  become 
deposited  at  the  same  period ;  the  whole  of  these  moist  forma-- 
tions  being  stratified  according  to  the  common  laws  in  constant 
action  in  the  ocean ;  and,  on  the  depression  of  the  waters  into 
their  new  bed,  becoming,  in  many  places,  deranged  by  de- 
pression, and,  subsequently,  hardened  into  the  stony  masses 
now  exhibited  to  our  admiring  view. 

I  now  come  to  the  second  subject  on  which  I  proposed 
making  a  few  observations  in  this  place;  and  which  presents 
perhaps,  one  of  the  most  difficult  problems  in  the  whole  ex- 
tent of  our  geological  inquiries. 

I  allude  to  the  fossil  foot-marks,  if  I  may  so  call  them,  of 
animals,  which  have,  in  a  few  instances,  been  distinctly  dis- 
covered on  the  surface  of  the  strata,  in  sand-stone  quarries. 
I  am  not  aware  of  more  than  two  known  instances  of  this 
remarkable  fact.  The  first  occurred  in  a  red  sand-stone  on 
Corncockle  rauir,  in  Dumfrieshire ;  and  the  second,  in  the  same 
free-stone  quarry  of  Craiglieth,  where  the  large  fossil  tree 
was  discovered  in  1830.  I  do  not  happen  to  have  read  or 
heard,  what  are  the  opinions  of  philosophers  on  this  remark- 
able subject;  but  I  cannot  help  thinking,  that  the  evidences 
to  be  found  in  Graigleith  quarry,  with  respect  to  the  above- 
mentioned  fossil  trees,  will  serve  as  a  ground  for  the  most 
probable  conjecture  with  respect  to  the  true  nature  of  those 
animal  foot-marks  on  the  diluvial  sands. 

These  impressions,  of  which  someof  the  originals,  as  well 
as  casts  in  stucco,  are  to  be  found  in  various  collections,  in- 
dicate a  small  animal,  having  a  foot  about  the  size  of  that  of 
a  fox.  There  appears  to  be  considerable  variety  in  the  size, 
but  as  to  the  identity  of  conformation  in  every  case,  I  have  not 
yet  had  an  opportunity  of  correctly  ascertaining  the  facts. 
Trials  have  been  made,  by  making  a  variety  of  animals  walk 
over  sand,  or  moist  clay;  and  I  have  been  informed,  that  it 
was  the  opinion  of  Sir  Everard  Home,  that  the  impression 
of  the  track  of  the  tortoise  was  the  nearest  to  those  hitherto 
found  in  the  quarries. 

As  I  am  entirely  ignorant  of  the  locality  of  Corncockle 
Muir,  I  shall  confine  my  self  to  those  impressions  found  in  the 
Craigleith  free-stone,  and  of  which  casts  have  been  placed  in 
the  Museum  of  the  Royal  Society  of  Edinburgh. 


200  GEOLOGY  OP  SCRIPTURE. 

In  endeavouring  to  solve  this  geological  mystery,  we  must 
bear  in  mind  two  positive  facts,  with  which  we  are  made  ac- 
quainted by  the  evidence  of  the  fossil  trees  above  described : 
first,  that  the  w'hole  formation  of  the  rock,  in  which  both  are 
found,  must  have  been  very  rapid;  and,  secondly,  that  there 
is  no  conceivable  means,  within  the  common  laws  of  nature, 
with  w^hich  we  are  acquainted,  by  which  such  rapid  forma- 
tion could  take  place  at  the  present  time. 

In  the  course  of  the  view  I  have  formerly  taken  of  the  ac- 
tion of  the  deluge,  and  its  effects  upon  the  "  earth  that  now  /s," 
I  had  an  opportunity  of  explaining  what  the  appearances 
must  probably  have  been,  both  on  the  rise  and  on  the  decline 
of  the  destructive  waters.  I  have  showm,  that  as  the  position 
of  the  globe,  during  this  awful  judgment,  remained  precisely 
the  same  as  it  was  before,  and  as  it  ever  since  has  been,  the  ef- 
fects of  the  sun,  and  of  the  moon,  as  exhibited  in  the  tides, 
must  have  remained  in  equal,  if  not  in  greater  force,  than  at 
other  times.  This  action  of  the  tides  must  have  been  parti- 
cularly powerful  on  the  gradual  decline  of  the  diluvial  waters, 
at  a  time  when  the  new  lands,  in  a  soft  state,  began  first  to 
appear  above  the  surface;  and,  in  process  of  time,  to  be,  for 
a  short  space,  periodically  left  dry  by  the  ebbing  tide,  in  the 
same  manner  as  the  sandy  or  muddy  shoals  on  our  own,  or 
on  the  Dutch  coast. 

Now,  in  the  present  course  of  things  upon  the  earth,  the 
footsteps  of  any  animal,  passing  over  the  smooth  sands  on  the 
ebb  tide,  could  not  long  resist  even  the  gentlest  action  of  the 
waves,  because  the  waters  of  the  ocean,  in  their  natural  state, 
are  so  nearly  pure,  and  free  from  sediment,  that  the  progress 
of  secondary  formations  is  so  slow  as  to  be  almost  impercepti- 
ble to  our  view.  But,  at  the  awful  period  of  which  we  are 
now  treating,  the  case  must  have  been  totally  different.  The 
waters  of  the  whole  sea  must  then  have  been,  as  we  have  be- 
fore shown,  heavily  charged  with  their  preternatural  burden  ; 
and  every  successive  tide  must,  consequently,  have  deposited 
some  additional  beds  upon  the  growing  earth.  In  this  man- 
ner alone  can  we  account  for  the  rapid  deposition  of  the  trees 
we  have  just  been  considering;  and,  in  this  same  manner 
alone  can  we  also  account  for  the  preservation  of  those  ani- 
mal foot-marks  now  discovered  between  the  strata. 

But  it  will  naturally  be  asked,  where  was  the  animal  to 
come  from,  at  a  time  when  the  whole  living  kingdom  was  in 
the  act  of  being  destroyed  ;  or,  (if  the  foot-marks  were  made. 


GEOLOGY  OF  SCRIPTURE.  201 

as  appears  most  probable,  on  the  decline  of  the  deluge,)  when 
all  had  already  perished  ?  To  this  we  reply,  that  we  have  here 
the  most  positive  evidence,  that  all  had  not  yet  perished  when 
these  sandy  formations  were  being  so  rapidly  deposited.  At 
whatever  period  of  the  deluge  this  deposit  took  p^e,  we  see, 
that  at  least  a  few  individuals,  of  the  animal  world,  were 
lingering  out  a  miserable  existence,  perhaps  preserved  for 
weeks  or  months  upon  these  same  vegetable  islands  which 
we  have  seen  were  being  deposited  in  the  immediate  neigh- 
bourhood, and  now  exhibited  in  the  form  of  coal.  If  the  ani- 
mals in  question-  were  of  the  tortoise  or  turtle  tribe,  as  has 
been  generally  conjectured,  and,  consequently,  of  an  amphibi- 
ous nature,  we  can  have  the  less  difficulty  in  finding  a  solution 
for  this  interesting  problem ;  for,  in  considering  the  fossil  re- 
mains of  the  natural  inhabitants  of  the  sea,  we  have  before 
found  it  probable,  that  by  no  means  a  general  destruction  took 
place  amongst  this  extensive  class  at  the  period  of  the  deluge. 
The  impressions  I  have  had  an  opportunity  of  seeing  are 
of  various  degrees  of  freshness ;  but  none  of  them  have  the 
appearance  of  a  longer  time  than  would  occur  between  one 
ebb  tide,  and  the  following  flow.  If  an  animal  pass  along  a 
fresh  sand  bed,  on  the  present  shores,  the  impression  of  his 
steps  soon  becomes  less  sharp,  as  the  moisture  is  evaporated 
from  the  drying  sands. 

These /o5Si7  foot-marks  have  all  the  appearances  exhibited 
on  a  recent  sand  bank.  They,  in  some  instances,  indicate  a 
short  and  shuffling  gait,  with  the  feet  pressing  outwards^  and 
are  such  as  we  can  suppose  an  amphibious  animal  to  produce. 
Had  the  marks  occurred  in  clay^  instead  of  in  sand,  we  can 
suppose  the  air  to  have  completely  hardened  the  impression, 
so  as  to  have  preserved  it  a  long  time  before  being  covered 
up.  But  such  is  not  the  case  ;  and  we  can,  therefore,  have  no 
manner  of  doubt  that  they  were  occasioned  by  some  animal 
coming  ashoi-e  on  a  sand  bank  left  dry  by  the  tide ;  and  that 
the  returning  waters,  heavily  charged  as  they  must  have  been, 
with  diluvial  sediments,  immediately  covered  up  the  former 
strata,  and  thus  preserved  entire  those  most  interesting  and 
solitary  indications  of  a  still  living  antediluvian  race. 

We  find  in  this  same  quarry  of  Craigleith,  another  remark- 
able evidence  of  the  truth  of  what  has  now  been  stated.  For 
it  has  been  remarked,  by  the  intelligent  individual  who  has 
the  management  of  these  valuable  works,  that,  on  the  upper 
surface  of  the  whole  quarry,  wherever  it  has  been  covered  up, 
s 


202  GEOLOGY  OF  SCRIPTURE. 

and  protected  by  the  mixed  diluvial  soils  and  rounded  stones, 
now  so  general  on  the  surface  of  the  earth,  the  upper  stratum 
is  marked  with  grooves  or  scratches^  generally  lying  in  a  S.  TV. 
direction,  and,  evidently,   attributable   to  the   impression  of 
gravelly  sd^tances  hurried  along  by  the  currents,  about  the 
terminatio^of  the  flood.     Similar  grooves  have  long  since 
been  remarked,  especially  by  the  late  Sir  James  Hall,  whose 
active  and  intelligent  mind  has  suggested  so  many  original 
and  acute  remarks  on  the  phenomena  of  nature,  as  well  as  in 
the  wide  field  of  scientific  research.  As  we  have  already  found 
that  the  action  of  currents  is  at  all  times  most  powerful  in  the 
ocean,  and  must  have  occasioned  many  wonderful  effects  at 
the  period  now  in  question,  we  cannot  be  surprised,  on  the 
discovery  of  such  self-evident  proofs  ;  nor  can  we  avoid  being 
struck  v^ith  admiration  at  the  consistent  and  remarkable  man- 
ner in  which  all  these  evidences  concur  towards  the  same 
points,  exhibited  in  the  Inspired  History.  It  is  to  this  event- 
ful period,  and  to  it  alone,  that  we  must  also  look  for  a  solu- 
tion of  the  great  question  with  respect  to  the  valleys  of  the 
earth's  surface,   about  which  so  many  remarkable  theories 
have  been,  from  time  to  time,  brought  forth.     We  can  now 
plainly  perceive  what,  in  these   philosophical   theories,  has 
never  been  made  clear  to  the  intelligence,  that  the  rounded 
forms  of  our  hills,  and  the  easy  rotundity  of  our  secondary 
slopes,  must  all  have  been  occasioned  by  the  action  of  the  re- 
tiring waters  upon  the  soft  and  recent  deposits.     We  now 
plainly   perceive  why  our    mountain    lowland   valleys    are 
much  longer  and  more  extensive  than  the  action  of  their  run- 
ning streams  could  possibly  have  occasioned,  even  in  mil- 
lions of  years. 

We  now  also  find  a  natural  and  consistent  reason  for  many 
deep  sections  of  sandy  and  calcareous  rocks  by  rapid  streams, 
on  every  part  of  the  earth's  surface.  We  find  the  strata  of 
one  side  so  exactly  corresponding  with  those  of  the  other, 
that  no  doubt  can  exist  as  to  their  once  having  formed  one 
united  deposit,  through  which  we  have,  hitherto,  supposed 
the  rivers  must  have  taken  unlimited  periods,  to  work  their 
deepened  beds.  We  cannot  now  wonder  if  we  found  a  diffi- 
culty in  making  these  phenomena  correspond  with  the  exist- 
ing laws  of  nature ;  for  they  diflfer  in  a  manner  so  material 
from  every  thing  now  observed  in  action  in  the  world,  that  no 
human  ingenuity  could  possibly  clear  up  the  difficulty.  No- 
thing short  of  that  Divine  Inspiration  in  the  Sacred  Scripture 


GEOLOGY  OP  SCRIPTURE.  203 

History,  which  has  been  vouchsafed  to  ns,for  the  most  hene- 
ficient  ends,  could  ever  have  enligjhtened  our  benighted  minds, 
which,  in  rejecting  this  powerful  evidence,  have  hitherto 
wandered  in  a  maze  of  inextricable  obscurity.  Let  it  not  be 
urged  for  the  future,  as  has  hitherto  so  often  been  done  in  our 
philosophical  schools,  that  Scripture  was  graciously  bestowed 
upon  us  only  for  moral.)  and  not  for  scientijic  purposes.  If  we 
make  a  humble  and  proper  use  of  the  indications  on  many 
philosophical  inquiries,  which  are  presented  to  us  in  the  In- 
spired Writings,  however  slight  they  may  appear,  we  cannot 
but  confess,  that  every  word  of  Scripture  "  has  been  written 
for  our  learning,"  and  that  no  part  of  it  has,  consequently, 
been  given  us  in  vain. 

From  the  indications  derived  from  this  inspired  source 
alone,  could  we  have  attained  the  conclusions  to  which  the 
above  phenomena  consistently  lead  us: — 

First,  that  coal  is  an  undoubted  vegetable  production. 

Secondly,  That  it  became  embedded  at  a  much  more  recent 
period,  and  in  a  much  more  rapid  manner,  than  we  have  hither- 
to thought. 

Thirdly,  That  it  was  an  aqueous  deposit. 

Fourthly,  That  that  aqueous  medium  was  marine,  and  not 
LACUSTRINE ;  and,  ^ 

Fifthly,  That  one  or  more  beds,  in  many  secondary  strata, 
were  formed  with  intervening  ebb  tides  on  the  decline  of  the 
diluvial  waters  ;  and,  consequently,  that  the  theories  of  geo- 
logy, which  advocate  unlimited  periods  for  the  age  of  the 
earth,  are  not  only  contrary  to  our  reason,  but  entirely  opposed 
to  those  leading  beacons  which  Scripture  holds  out  for  our 
guidance  and  instruction. 


CHAPTER  XII. 

Elephants  clothed  with  Hair  and  Wool. — Existing  Instances  of 
this  Variety,  even  within  the  Tropics, — Probable  Identity 
between  the  Mammoth  and  the  Asiatic  Elephant. — Cuvier^s 
Theory  on  this  Subject  inconsistent  with  Facts.— More  Natu- 
ral Conclusions, — Erroneous  Theories  respecting  Fossils, — 
The  Mastodon  not  confined  to  the  Continents  of  America,  as 
commonly  supposed. — Instance  of  the  great  Mastodon  in 
England. — Form  of  the  I^usks  of  the  Mastodon, — Erroneous 
Ideas  on  this  subject. 

Having  now  tried  upon  its  own  merits  this  interesting-  and 
important  question,  respecting  the  former  history  of  the  earth, 
by  the  presumptive  evidence  derived  from  the  northern  fossil 
remains;  and  having,  by  conclusive,  though  indirect  proofs, 
shown  that  the  elephants,  found  in  the  ice  of  the  Arctic  re- 
gions, never  could  have  been  inhabitants  of  such  high  lati- 
tudes, but  must,  on  the  contrary,  have  all  been  drifted  to  their 
present  beds  by  the  natural  currents,  which  have,  at  all  times, 
prevailed  in  the  ocean ;  and  that  these  natives  of  tropical 
climates  never  could  have  existed  but  in  the  latitudes  in 
which  we  now  find  them  naturalized,  notwithstanding  the 
startling  fact  of  some  individuals  having  been  found  entire, 
and  covered  with  a  warm  coat  of  hair  and  wool;  I  now  pro- 
ceed to  bring  forward,  what  may  truly  be  considered  a  positive 
and  direct  evidence  of  the  correctness  of  those  conclusions  to 
which  we  have  been  led.  For,  as  many  of  the  theories  of 
geology  may  be  distinctly  traced  to  the  remarkable  fossil 
animals,  covered  wjth  a  shaggy  coat,  which  have  already 
been  so  fully  described,  it  is  a  point  of  the  very  highest  interest 
and   importance   to  geology,   to   find   that  the   arguments, 


GEOLOGY  OF  SCRIPTURE.  205 

grounded  on  this  hairy  covering,  can  no  longer  be  of  the 
smallest  service  in  the  support  of  such  false  and  contradictory 
opinions.  For  it  has,  within  a  few  years,  been  indisputably 
proved,  that  though  neither  the  common  Asiatic,  nor  the 
African  elephant,  requires,  in  general,  such  natural  protec- 
tion, owing  to  the  heat  of  the  climates  which  they  most  de- 
light in ;  yet  that  a  variety  of  the  species  aduully  exists  in 
one  district  of  Hindostan,  in  the  immediate  neighbourhood  of 
the  Hymalaya  range,  having  a  thick  and  shaggy  coat  of  hair  ; 
and  being  thus  suited,  by  the  common  laws  of  nature,  to  be- 
come the  inhabitants  of  a  region  comparatively  cold. 

When  we  consider  the  admirable  manner  in  which  animal 
as  well  as  vegetable  productions  accommodate  themselves  to 
the  particular  temperature  in  which  they  are  placed,  we  can- 
not feel  surprised,  that,  in  some  instances,  elephants  with 
hair,  should  be  found  to  exist.  For  the  common  Asiatic  ele- 
phant cannot  be  regarded  with  any  attention,  without  our 
perceiving  that,  on  almost  every  part  of  his  bare  hide,  there 
is  an  indication  of  hair,  such  as  we  see  on  some  species  of 
the  dog  from  Turkey,  or  of  the  hog  from  China;*  and  we 
may,  therefore,  safely  conclude  that,  as  in  both  these  familiar 
instances,  the  clothing,  natural  to  most  other  animals,  is  only 
wanting  in  the  case  of  the  elephant,  from  the  warmth  of  the 
climates  to  which  he  is,  for  the  most  part,  confined.  This 
natural  clothing,  however,  which  circumstances  alone  have, 
in  general,  caused  him  to  lay  aside,  is  immediately  called  into 
action,  when  a  cooler  temperature  requires  its  presence.  An 
elephant  does  not  continue  long  in  our  temperate  climates 
without  this  provision  being  more  or  less  developed  ;  and  we 
have,  at  this  moment,  in  Loffdon,  most  decided  instances  of 
this  incipient  roughness,  in  the  two  elephants  belonging  to 
the  Zoological  Society  in  the  Regent's  Park. 

The  recent  discovery  of  this  zoological  fact,  in  a  country 
which  has  so  long  been  occupied  by  numbers  of  our  country- 
men, may,  perhaps,  be  looked  upon  as  one  of  the  most  re- 
markable parts  of  it ;  and  though  the  work  I  am  about  to 
quote  has  now  been  for  several  years  before  the  public,  I  do 

*  It  is  well  known,  tliat  many  of  the  hog  tribe,  especially  those 
from  China,  have  little  or  no  hair,  when  first  brought  into  our  cli- 
mates. The  laws  of  nature  soon,  however,  take  eftect ;  and  tliey  not 
only,  in  the  end,  become  covered  with  hair,  but  they  also  acquire  a 
complete  under-covering  of  wool,  as  is  well  known  to  all  fly-fishers. 

s  2 


206  GEOLOGY  OF  SCRIPTURE. 

9 

not  any  where  find  that  this  new  and  interesting  variety  of 
the  elephant  has  met  with  that  attention  to  which  it  may 
certainly  lay  claim.  That  it  bears  in  a  most  remarkable 
manner,  on  the  gTeat  questions  in  geology,  must  be  apparent 
to  all  who  have  attended  to  the  line  of  reasoning  so  recently 
explained.  For  it  must  be  evident,  that  if  the  common  ele- 
phants, of  the  hottest  climates,  without  hair^  were  floated  by 
the  currents  from  a  tropical  to  a  frozen  region,  and  were 
there  stranded,  and  sealed  tcp,  on  the  subsiding  of  the  waters; 
all  such  as  inhabited  a  cooler  climate,  eve?!  within  the  tropics, 
must  also  have  been  subjected  to  a  similar  mechanical  power. 
But  we  are  not  to  suppose,  because  a  few  fossil  specimens 
may  have  been  found  with  hair,  that  all  the  elephants,  whose 
remains  are  embedded  in  the  northern  or  temperate  climates 
of  the  earth,  were  of  this  rough  species.  On  the  contrary,  it 
may  safely  be  looked  upon  as  certain,  that  the  number  of 
bodies  with  hair,  bore  no  greater  proportion  to  those  without, 
than  we  now  find  to  exist  in  the  living  species.  We  have 
every  reason  to  conclude,  that  the  elephant  is  a  native  only 
of  such  climates  as  furnish,  in  luxuriance,  the  vegetable  pro- 
ductions on  which  he  feeds.  They  are  no  where  found,  in  a 
natural  state,  in  temperate  latitudes ;  but  only  in  those  coun- 
tries where  the  herbage  may  be  termed  gigantic,  and  where 
the  jungles  are  so  thick,  that  the  animals  may  not  only  be 
completely  concealed  from  their  enemies,  but  may  also  find 
an  easy  and  abundant  subsistence.  Such  is  the  .case,  not 
only  in  the  low  and  swampy  plains  of  Hindostan,  but,  also, 
in  the  districts  of  India,  bordering  on  the  mountains,  where  a 
higher  elevation  in  the  atmosphere  counteracts,  in  some  de- 
gree, the  powerful  effects  of  tHfe  sun,  and  occasions  a  tem- 
perature, which,  in  India,  is  termed  cold,  though  the  ther- 
mometer may  rarely  indicate  the  freezing  point. 

The  first,  and,  as  yet,  only  notice  we  have  of  this  shaggy 
variety  of  the  elephant,  is  to  be  found  in  the  interesting  jour- 
nal of  Bishop  Heber.  It  was  in  the  course  of  that  long  tour 
round  the  district  over  which  his  spiritual  government  ex- 
tended, that  the  bishop  arrived  in  the  residency  of  Barielly, 
a  city  situated  in  the  plain,  in  the  28th  degree  of  north  lati- 
tude, and  about  50  miles  from  the  lower  range  of  the  Hyma- 
laya.  It  was  at  only  one  day's  journey  from  Barielly,  on  his 
way  to  the  mountains,  and  while  passing  through  the  un- 
wholesome forests  and  jungles  of  the  plain,  that  he  was 
visited  by  a  native  border  prince  of  that  district,  who  invited 


GEOLOGY  OF  SCRIPTURE.  207 

him  to  join  in  the  hunting-  of  a  tiger,  which  had  lately  been 
seen  in  that  neighbourhood.  It  is  in  the  short  and  animated 
description  of  this  hunt,  that  the  bishop  makes  use  of  the 
following  terms :  "  The  rajah  was  mounted  on  a  little  female 
elephant,  hardly  bigger  than  the  Durham  ox,  and  almost  as 
shaggy  as  a  poodle.  She  was  a  native  of  the  neighbouring 
woods,  where  they  are  generally,  though  not  always,  of  a 
smaller  size  than  those  of  Bengal  and  Chittagong." 

Heber  again  mentions  having  met  the  same  rajah,  a  few 
days  afterwards,  "on  his  little  elephant;"  and  we  cannot 
peruse  this  concise,  yet  particular  description  of  so  casual  a 
circumstance,  without  perceiving,  that,  though  he  does  not 
enter  into  details  upon  the  subject  of  this  rough-coated  ele- 
phant, yet  his  attention  was,  on  both  these  occasions,  par- 
ticularly attracted  to  so  uncommon  an  animal.  I  am  the 
more  desirous  of  drawing  the  attention  to  the  artless  and  fa- 
miliar description  contained  in  the  above  passage,  from  hav- 
ing found,  on  inquiry  from  many  who  have  spent  a  great  part 
of  their  lives  in  the  East,  that  this  variety  of  the  elephant  is 
so  little  known,  that  much  doubt  is  entertained,  by  some, 
as  to  the  correctness  of  the  account  of  it. 

Setting  aside,  however,  for  a  moment,  the  character  of  the 
individual  from  whom  alone  we  have,  as  yet,  derived  our  in- 
formation of  this  new  living  variety,  let  us  consider  the  col- 
lateral circumstances  of  the  case;  and  we  shall  find,  that  this 
generally,  though  not  invariably  small  race  of  elephants,  are 
said  to  be  the  natural  and  wild  inhabitants  of  an  extensive 
range  of  jungle,  where,  though  ice  is  rarely  seen^  yet  hoar  frost 
is  quite  a  common  occurrence ;  and  where,  consequently,  the 
clothing  of  the  native  animals  might  be  expected  to  be  warmer 
than  in  the  burning  plains,  at  a  greater  distance  from  the 
highest  mountains  on  the  globe. 

We  find,  that  this  very  animal  on  which  the  rajah  was 
mounted,  accompanied  the  bishop  to  the  town  or  village, 
where  he  was  to  leave  his  elephants  for  a  time,  and  to  con- 
tinue his  journey  on  "  little  white  shaggy  ponies,"  in  every 
respect  similar  to  those  of  Wales,  or  of  Scotland,  to  which 
Heber  likens  them ;  and  in  the  course  of  one  day's  journey 
further,  he  begins  to  mention  chamois^  which  are  well  known 
to  be  naturalized  only  in  very  cold  climates,* 

*  "  The  pahariahs,  or  hill  p^|||)le,  are  quite  a  distinct  i-ace  from 
the  rest  of  the  inhabitants  of  Bengal ;  and,  from  every  circumstance. 


208  GEOLOGY  OF  SCRIPTTTKE. 

It  is  not  necessary,  however,  to  urge  the  prohahUity  of  the 
account  of  any  object  of  that  description  given  by  the  pen  of 
the  amiable  Heber.  For,  however  mistaken  his  views  may 
sometimes  have  been  upon  Indian  affairs,  in  the  short  ac- 
quaintance which  he  was  permitted  to  enjoy  with  that  im- 
mense range  over  which  his  spiritual  authority  extended,  we 
cannot,  for  a  moment,  doubt  his  exactnesL'^  on  such  points  as 
we  are  now  considering;  and  as  he  was,  at  the  time,  accom- 
panied by  Mr.  Boulderston,  who  had  for  many  years  held  an 
official  situation  in  that  district,  and  from  whom,  Heber  says, 
he  derived  much  information  on  the  natural  history  of  the 
jungles  they  were  then  traversing,  it  is  but  reasonable  to 
suppose,  that  the  short  description  above  quoted,  was  the 
result  of  the  conversation  and  inquiry  which  this  new  and 
strange  looking  animal  must  naturally  have  given  rise  to. 

I  am  happy  to  say,  that,  in  as  short  a  space  of  time  as  the 
great  distance  will  permit,  w^e  may  hope  to  have  a  full  and 
particular  account  of  the  rough-coated  elephant.  Through 
the  kindness  of  Dr.  Wilkins,  Librarian  to  the  honourable  the 
East  India  Company,  in  London,  letters  have  been  written 
to  the  gentleman  who  is,  at  present,  engaged  as  a  naturalist, 
in  traversing  some  of  the  extensive  districts  of  Hindostan,  for 
the  purpose  of  drawing  his  particular  attention  to  this  animal ; 
and  to  all  who  enter  into  the  consequences,  to  be  naturally 
deduced  from  its  discovery,  a  more  particular  description  of 
it,  from  the  pen  of  a  naturalist,  must  afford  a  subject  of  the 
highest  interest  and  expectation. 

In  the  mean  time,  I  must  not  omit  to  take  notice  of  one 
point  which  has  come  under  my  observation,  and  which  cer- 
tainly corroborates,  as  far  as  it  goes,  my  idea  of  the  complete 
or  approximating  identity  of  species,  between  this  existing 
caste  of  the  elephant,  and  the  shaggy  fossil  of  Siberia,  as 
well  as  between  the  common  Asiatic  race,  and  the  animal 
whose  bones  and  teeth  are  so  generally  distributed  over  the 
surface  of  the  earth,  and  known  by  the  name  of  the  mammoth. 
I  have  before  alluded  to  the  interesting  specimens  of  the 

may  be,  with  reason,  considered  as  aborigines.     They  are  in  stature 
and  figure  very  like  the  Welsh,"  &c. 

"  Most  people  conclude  the  climate  of  India  to  he  invariably  sul- 
try and  scorching,  whereas  the  months  of  December  and  January 
are  often  so  cold  as  to  produce  a  tlun  coat  of  ice  upon  the  puddles  ; 
and,  very  commonly,  a  smai-t  hoi^Trost  on  the  grass  and  vegeta- 
tion. "—jP*eW  Sports  ofilie  East. 


GEOLOGY  OF  SCRIPTURE.  209 

skin  and  hair  of  the  fossil  mammoth  of  the  Lena,  preserved 
in  the  Museum  of  the  Royal  College  of  Surgeons,  in  London. 
After  having  examined  the  three  different  varieties  of  hair  of 
which  this  sample  is  composed,  viz.  a  sort  of  wool  or  short 
hair ;  a  longer  kind,  about  the  coarseness  of  that  of  the  mane 
of  a  horse ;  and  a  stronger  sort,  thicker  than  any  bristle  with 
which  I  am  acquainted ;  I  had  an  opportunity  of  seeing,  in  the 
same  fine  collection,  the  tail  of  the  common  Asiatic  elephant, 
with  the  curious  arrangement  of  hair  of  which  it  is  composed. 
This  hair  is  from  one  to  two  feet  in  length,  and  of  such  thick- 
ness, that  it  more  resembles  long  rounded  strips  of  whale- 
bone, than  any  thing  else  to  which  I  could  liken  it.  The 
peculiarity  of  this  coarse  hair,  however,  is,  that  it  is  neither 
perfectly  round,,  nor  perfectly^Zc/,  as  that  from  the  tail  of  the 
horse  is  occasionally  found  to  be  ;  but  it  is  irregularly  rounded 
and  jiattened  over  its  whole  surface,  in  a  manner  so  unlike 
any  other  hair,  that  it  may,  probably,  be  looked  upon  as  quite 
peculiar  to  the  elephant.*  It  immediately  occurred  to  me, 
to  compare  this  unusual  construction  with  the  coarser  sort 
,  of  hair  of  the  fossil  specimen ;  and  though  there  is  not  in 
that  sample,  (which  was  sent  to  Sir  Joseph  Banks,  from 
St.  Petersburg,)  any  hairs  which  could  be  supposed  to  belong 
to  the  tail  of  the  antediluvian  animal,  yet  it  is  most  obvious 
and  surprising,  to  see  the  exact  similarity  which  exists  between 
the  coarsest  hairs  or  bristles  of  that  sample,  and  those  of 
the  tail  of  the  common  Asiatic  species. 

Such  corroborative  points,  in  the  chain  of  our  evidence,  are 
not  to  be  overlooked,  nor  despised ;  and  though  Bishop 
Heber  does  not  give  us  the  slightest  notion  of  the  colour  of 
the  animal  he  saw,  yet  we  may  naturally  conclude,  from  what 
we  already  know  of  the  existing  species,  that  it  must  have 
been  of  a  dark  brown  tint,  nearly  approaching,  in  the  coarser 
hairs,  to  black.  If  this  be  the-  case,  it  will  agree,  most  per- 
fectly, with  the  description  I  have  read,,  and  the  samples  I  have 
seen,,  of  the  shaggy  coat  of  the  antediluvian  animal. 

*  The  hair  that  is  next  in  coarseness  to  that  of  the  elephant's  tail, 
is  that  of  the  tail  of  the  eameleopard,  which  is  of  a  fine  round  form, 
and  from  two  to  three  feet  in  length.  The  hair  of  the  hippopotamus 
is  also  very  strong  ;  but  the  skin  of  this  animal  is  usually  nearly 
bare.  About  the  mouth  are  tufts  of  strong  bristles — as  also  in  the 
ear:  and  it  is  singular,  that  the  form  and  arrangement  of  the  tail 
should  be  the  same  as  that  of  the  elephant.  Both  are  fattened 
towards  the  point,  and  the  hairs  are  only  on  the  edges,  and  not  upon 
the  sides  of  the  flat  part  of  the  tail. 


210  GEOLOGY  OF  SCRIPTURE. 

The  coarsest  hair  in  the  Museum  of  the  College  of  Sur- 
geons, is,  in  colour,  like  that  of  some  dark  chesnut  horses, 
which  are  often  called  black,  but  whose  manes  and  tails  show 
a  reddish  colour  when  viewed  transparently.  The  tufts  of 
hair  from  the  fossil  animal,  evidently  indicate  an  inclination 
to  curl;  the  woolly  hair,  at  the  roots  of  the  coarser  sort, 
shows  this  even  more  distinctly ;  and  the  whole  gives  at  once 
the  idea  of  its  having  formerly  belonged  to  exactly  such  an 
animal  as  Heber  so  graphically  describes  as  being  '"'•almost 
as  shaggy  as  a  poodle,^^  to  which  animal  alone  it  could,  per- 
haps, be  properly  likened.* 

*  Since  writing,  the  above,  I  have,  by  the  kindness  of  the  Zoologi- 
cal Society,  been  permitted  to  take  specimens  of  the  hair  from 
different  parts  of  the  body  of  their  small  Ceylon  elephant  5  and  have 
compared  them  with  the  fossil  specimens,  in  the  presence  of  Mr. 
Clift,  at  the  Royal  College  of  Surgeons. 

This  small  elephant  in  the  Zoological  Gardens  of  the  Regent's 
Park,  has  not  been  many  months  in  England.  It  is  three  or  four 
years  old,  and  is  not  yet  larger  than  a  small  Highland  ox.  He  is  as 
hairy  as  many  species  of  pigs  ;  and  his  coat  has  a  decided  tendency 
to  be  "s/2a_§-^-^"  or  curly.  His  colour  is  a  dark  chesnut  brown  on 
the  back,  dirty  gray  on  the  stomach  and  lower  parts  of  the  body;  and 
there  is  most  hair,  (of  a  yellowish  colour,)  about  the  mouth.  In  the 
interior  of  the  ear,  the  hair  is  close  set,  and  of  a  light  gray  colour, 
much  resembling  that  called  7^00?,  in  the  descriptions  of  the  Siberian 
fossil. 

The  keepers  are  conscious  of  the  gradual  increase  of  this  hair, 
since  the  animal  has  been  in  England  :  and  the  older  and  larger 
Mysore  elephant,  of  the  same  collection,  has  also  a  thin  coat  of  hair, 
of  a  few  inches  in  length,  all  over  his  body,  and  of  the  same  colour 
as  in  the  smaller  animal.  In  both,  the  longest  hair  is  on  the  neck 
and  shoulders;  but  it  has  not  yet  assumed  any  appearance  of  a  mane. 
It  is,  indeed,  probable,  that  the  mane  described  on  the  fossil  speci- 
men did  not  more  resemble  that  of  a  horse,  than  the  longer  bristles 
always  found  on  the  neck  and  shoulders  of  the  hog.  Upon  the  whole, 
the  small  Ceylon  elephant  appears  fast  approaching  to  such  a  shaggy 
appearance  as  Heber  describes,  and  as  Mr.  Adams  found  on  the  Si- 
berian fossil  elephant. 

The  resemblance  of  the  hair  of  the  fossil,  and  of  the  recent  animal, 
is  complete,  having  that  general  inclination  to  red,hefore  remarked; 
and  the  longer  hair  of  both  is  chesnut  when  viewed  transparently, 
and  so  similar  in  this  respect,  that  tlie  one  cannot  be  distinguished 
from  the  other. 

I  have,  also,  by  the  kindness  of  INIr.  Cleft,  been  permitted  to  ex- 
amine the  tooth  of  a  Siberian  fossil,  which  was  sent  to  Sir  Joseph 
Banks  at  the  same  time  as  the  hair.  It  is  completely  identical  in 
form  and  structure  to  that  of  tlie  common  Asiatic  elephant. 


GEOLOGY  OP  SCRIPTURE. 


211 


As  we  have  now  found,  therefore,  a  situation,  wifUn  the 
tropics,  satficiently  cold  to  produce  a  thick  coat  of  hair,  on  a 
race  of  animals  usually  hare  ;  but,  at  the  same  time,  suf- 
ficiently hot  to  furnisli  a  climate  fitted  for  the  richest  Eastern 
Vegetation,  and  a  jungle  grass  so  high,  as  nearly  to  cover  the 
elephants  of  the  hunters,  let  us  imagine,  for  a  moment,  such 
an  event  to  occur,  as  is  supposed  by  Cuvier  to  have  actually 
happened  in  the  present  Polar  regions,  at  the  period  of  his 
last  revolution,  or,  what  we  term  the  Mosaic  deluge.  Cuvier 
supposed  that  a  sudden  flood  of  waters  must  have  occurred, 
and,  at  the  same  time,  an  equally  sudden  and  violent c?mmtf- 
tion  of  heai,  so  as  first  to  envelope  the  animals  in  the  water, 
and  then  to  convert  that  water,  almost  instantly,  into  ice; 
which  has  been  the  means  of  preserving,  in  an  entire  state^ 
even  the  most  perishable  parts  of  some  of  the  animal  bodies 
embedded  in  it. 

It  must  be  obvious  to  every  one,  that  if  such  an  event  were, 
at  the  present  day,  to  occur  in  the  jungles  and  forests  in  the 
vicinity  of  the  Hymalaya  range,  now  inhabited  by  a  race  of 
elephants  more  or  less  "  shaggy ;"  and  also  by  innumerable 
other  animals  of  every  sort,  usually  found  in  such  latitudes, 
we  should  expect  to  find,  on  inspecting  the  frozen  mass,  that 
the  animal  remains  were  invariably  entire,  and,  in  no  in- 
stance, exhibiting  such  decided  marks  of  marine  action,  as 
oysters,  and  other  sea  creatures,  firmly  attached  to  them.  In- 
stead of  prodigious  beds  of  "  mud,''''  mixed  with  "  ice,"  and 
"  hones,''^  so  correctly  described  by  Professor  Buckland,  as 
the  state  in  which  the  shores  and  islands  of  the  Polar  seas 
are  now  found,  we  should  look,  with  a  confident  expectation, 
amounting  to  certainty,  for  the  mass  of  vegetable  substances, 
and  entire  trees,  which  must  have  equally  shared  the  melan- 
choly fate  of  the  unhappy  elephants. 

Such,  however,  is  by  no  means  the  state  of  things  in  the 
latitude  of  the  mouth  of  the  Lena,  in  Siberia;  and,  as  every 
thing  there  denotes  total  ruin,  and  diluvial  confusion,  we  have 
a  right  to  assume,  as  a  demonstrable  fact,  that  the  theory  of 
Cuvier  is  entirely  grovmdless.  It  must,  however,  in  justice, 
be  admitted,  that  the  shaggy  coat  of  these  fossil  animals 
formed  a  strong  and  plausible  ground  for  some  such  theory. 
But  the  enthusiasm,  too  common  on  the  discovery  of  a  new 
and  interesting  fact,  was,  in  this  instance,  permitted  to  outrun 
the  discretion  so  necessary  on  a  point  which  was  to  lead  to 
such  sweeping  conclusions.     For  the  undeniable  facts  which 


212  GEOLOGY  OF  SCRIPTURE. 

were  assumed  from  this  discovery,  led  to  the  following-  una- 
voidable results  ;  first,  that  all  northern  fossils  must  have 
been  '■*•  clothed  in  wool;''''  secondly,  that  the  remains  of  the 
same  clasg^  of  animals  found  in  less  rigorous  climates,  such 
as  our  own,  were  also  those  of  natives  of  such  climates  respec- 
tively :  and,  thirdly,  that  the  climates  of  the  antediluvian 
earth,  as  well  as  the  nature  of  its  animal  productions,  must 
have  been  widely  different  from  what  they  now  are. 

All  these  conclusions,  and  innumerable  others  which 
naturally  flowed  from  them,  we  must  now  hold  to  be  utterly 
false  and  groundless.  Every  thing  denotes,  on  the  contrary, 
that  the  earth,  and  its  productions,  have  been  nearly,  if  not 
entirely,  uniform,  ever  since  they  came  from  the  hand  of  the 
Creator.  We  have  not  yet  discovered,  it  is  true,  an  existing 
variety  of  the  elephant,  exactly  similar  to  that  which  has  re- 
ceived the  title  of  mastodon  among  geologists  ;  but,  as  we 
have  now  advanced  so  important  and  unexpected  a  step  with 
respect  to  the  mammoth,  we  may  not  altogether  despair  of 
still  becoming  acquainted,  at  some  future  time,  with  a  living 
mastodon.  Science  is  a  plant  of  but  tardy  growth,  even  un- 
der the  most  favourable  circumstances  of  civilized  society ; 
much  more,  then,  in  countries  where  such  fostering  care  can- 
not be  afforded  for  its  protection.  In  our  eastern  possessions, 
for  example,  so  far  removed  as  they  are  from  the  parent 
country,  there  must  still  be  the  richest  field  for  scientific  re- 
search in  every  branch  of  Natural  History.  Our  young  men 
have,  however,  for  the  most  part,  hitherto  gone  out  at  an  age 
when  the  mind  is  unprepared  to  take  advantage  of  the  vivid 
impressions  which  novelty  affords.  We  soog  become  famil- 
iarized to  what  was,  at  first,  new  and  surprising  ;  and  we  are, 
afterwards,  incapable  of  perceiving  that,  what  is  an  every  day 
occurrence  in  a  foreign  land,  may  prove  of  the  highest  interest 
to  science  in  our  own  more  cultivated  societies.  Thus,  for 
example,  has  this  shaggy  race  of  elephants  been  seen,  for 
years,  by  numbers  of  our  countrymen,  without  any  one  hav- 
ing thought  of  its  being  more  interesting  than  the  common 
breed.  Geology,  or  general  science,  is,  probably,  but  little 
thought  of,  in  a  country  where  business  must  require  all  that 
exertion  and  energy  of  the  mind,  which  is  not  dissipated  by 
the  debilitating  effects  of  the  climate.  We  have,  it  is  true, 
made  a  most  rapid  progress  in  our  knowledge  of  Natural  His- 
tory within  the  last  half  century ;  but,  with  almost  all  China, 
the  greater  part  of  Africa,  and  nearly  the  whole  of  New  Hoi- 


GEOLOGY  OF  SCRIPTURE.  213 

land,  still  before  us,  unexplored,  we  probably  have  much  to 
learn,  before  we  reach  the  boundaries  of  so  wide  a  field  for 
inquiry.* 

When  we  consider,  on  the  other  hand,  the  unfathomable 
depths  of  the  ocean,  an  element  to  which  many  of  those  ani- 
mals must  have  belonged,  which  we  now  generally  look  upon 
as  extinct,  it  must  be  admitted  to  be  extremely  probable,  that 
many  of  our  conclusions  on  that  head  have  been  inconsider- 
ate and  hasty.  We  have  long  been  amused,  from  time  to 
time,  with  reports  of  what  have  been  termed  sea  sei^ents,  of 
enormous  dimensions ;  and  these  accounts,  though  coming 
from  a  great  variety  of  persons  and  places,  have  usually  been 
set  down  to  the  account  of  ignorance  and  fable.  Without 
being,  by  any  means,  an  implicit  believer  in  such  stories,  I 
cannot  but  think  it  possible,  and  even  highly  probable,  that 
there  are  still  many  things  in  the  wide  earth  "but  little 
dreamt  of  in  our  philosophy ;"  and  that  some  such  monsters 
of  the  deep  may  exist,  and  be  occasionally  seen,  as  has  so 
often  been  asserted  by  many  respectable  persons. f 

It  was,  formerly,  one  of  the  well  known  fads  of  geology, 
that  there  had  once  existed  a  species  of  carnivorous  elephants. 
This  extraordinary  idea,  arising  from  the  form  of  the  teeth  of 
the  mastodon,  is  now  entirely  exploded.  It  was,  also,  a  pre- 
vailing opinion,  and  reasoned  upon  as  another  of  these  well 
known  fact^,  that  that  animal  must  have  been  a  native  of 
America,  as  his  fossil  remains  were  only  found  in  that  country; 
thus  encouraging  the  groundless  notion,  that  the  continents  of 
the  New  World  had  existed,  as  they  now  do,  before  the  flood. 

*  We  cannot  peruse  the  Monthly  Transactions  of  our  different 
Scientific  Societies,  without  perceiving  descriptions  of  animals  and 
things  not  already  described,  and  entirely  "  new  to  Science." 

t  Amongst  the  fossil  animals  which  are  now  looked  upon  as  extinct, 
are  sonie  species  of  the  saurian,  or  crocodile  tribe.  When  we  con- 
sider, that  by  far  the  gi-eater  part  of  the  interior  of  Africa  is  still 
unexplored,  and  that  we  are  but  partially  acquainted  with  the  pro- 
ductions, even  of  its  known  rivers,  we  must  suspend  om-  judgment 
oii  the  subject  of  the  extinct  species  of  the  crocodile  ;  and  we  may 
reason  from  analogy,  that  we  shall  still  become  acquainted  with 
many  new  tilings  ;  and  may  conclude,  that  every  new  discovery  will 
tend  to  show  the  literal  ti-uth  of  the  Inspired  Record,  and  the  provi- 
dent care  of  the  Creator,  for  the  preservation  of  all  created  species. 
The  crocodile  of  the  Ganges  differs  much  in  form  from  that  of  the 
Nile,  and  greatly  resembles  one  variety  of  the  supposed  extinct  fos- 
sil species. 
T 


214  GEOLOGY  OF  SCRIPTURE. 

This  idea  has  been  subsequently  proved  to  be  as  unfounded 
and  false,  as  so  many  other  parts  of  the  theories  of  philosophy . 
It  may  be  admitted,  that  the  remains  of  this  particular  spe- 
cies of  the  elephant  have  been,  hitherto,  oftener  observed  in 
America,  than  elsewhere ;  and  if  it  were  necessary,  it  would 
not  be  difficult  to  advance  very  plausible  theories  to  ac- 
count for  the  predominance  of  the  fossil  remains  of  one 
species  over  another,  in  particular  localities,  in  the  same 
manner  as  we  find  the  greater  part  of  one  deposit  to  consist 
of  fish,  and  of  another  of  bones,  or  shells. 

Such  currents  of  the  ocean  as  now  sweep  along  the  coasts 
of  New  Holland,  must,  at  the  period  of  the  deluge,  have 
somewhere  deposited  those  animal  bodies  which  might  have 
belonged  exclusively  to  any  similar  portion  of  the  former  dry 
lands.     In  the  direction  of  tljis  branch  of  the  currents,  or  in 
any  of  the  eddies  which  it  might  chance  to  have  occasioned, 
we  should  certainly  look  for  such  fossil  remains  as  would  be 
rarely  found  in  other  parts  of  the  bed  of  the  sea.     In   the 
event  of  such  a  calamity,  in  the  present  day,  the  peculiar 
animal  and  vegetable  productions  of  New  Holland   would 
certainly  attract  a  great  share  of  attention,  and  be  productive 
of  much  theory  in  philosophy,  supposing  that  we  had  still 
remained  ignorant  o^f  the  existence  of  that  immense  country, 
and  of  its  curious  productions,  as  we  were  half  a  century  ago. 
But,  as  my  object  is  rather  to  treat  of  facts  than  of  theories,  I 
shall  proceed  to  give  an  interesting  instance  of  the  fossil  mas- 
todon in  our  own  country,  and  in  the  immediate  neighbourhood 
of  one  of  the  most  extensive  and  remarkable  diluvial  deposits 
with  which  we  are  any  where  acquainted.     We  know,  that, 
in  America,  the  remains  of  both  the  mastodon  and  mammoth 
are  constantly  discovered  in  the  same  soils.     This  circum- 
stance would,  of  itself,  be  sufficient  to   destroy  the  whole 
theory  of  geologists,  who  confine  the  mastodon  to  America, 
as  they  do  the  gigantic  elk   to  Ireland,  or  the  Isle  of  Man, 
because  his  remains  happen  to  have  occurred  in  those  coun- 
tries, in  several  instances.     One  undoubted  instance  of  the 
mastodon  in  Europe  would  be  sufficient,  then,  for  the  support 
of  the  system  we  are  now  defending;  and  we  cannot  have 
the  smallest  doubt,  that,  however  rare  these  instances  may, 
as  yet,  have  been,  a  more  intimate  and  general  acquaintance 
with  the  distinguishing  features  of  the  two  fossil  varieties, 
(^which  are  only  to  be  known  by  the  form  of  the  grinders,) 


GEOLOGY  OF  SCRIPTURE.  21'5 

will  make  us  acquainted  with  many  more  instances  than  we 
have  at  present  heard  of.  * 

In  a  former  part  of  this  treatise,  and  in  quoting  from  the 
interesting  communication  of  Mr.  Layton,  on  the  fossil  re- 
mains of  the  coast  of  Norfolk,  mention  is  especially  made  of 
the  skeleton  of  the  "great  mastodon"  having  heen  found 
nearly  entire^  in  the  neighbourhood  of  Norwich.  Being 
desirous  of  ascertaining  upon  what  certain  grounds  this 
skeleton  was  called  that  of  the  great  mastodon,  I  wrote  to 
Mr.  Layton,  to  request  some  further  explanation  on  the  sub- 
ject; and,  in  reply,  I  had  the  pleasure  of  receiving  the 
following  interesting  statement. 

"  Your  doubt,  as  to  the  great  mastodon  being  found  in 
Norfolk,  came  not  at  all  unexpected.  I  should  have  doubted 
it  myself  under  almost  any  other  circumstances  ;  as  it  is,  I 
feel  sure  and  certain  of  the  fact. 

"I  lived  at  Catfield,  in  Norfork,  six  miles  from  Hasbo- 
rough,  and  about  as  far  from  Horstead.  From  this  latter 
place,  marl  {soft  chalk,  with  regular  layers  of  fiint,  about  four 
feet  apart,  or  less,)  is  carried  to  all  the  villages  in  the  neigh- 
bourhood, to  be  spread  upon  the  lands.  A  boatman,  who  was 
in  the  habit  of  bringing  me  fossils,  broiMdit  a  grinder  of  this 
mastodon  as  a  curiosity,  saying,  it  had  been  found  in  the  marl, 
and  given  to  him  by  the  head  pitman.  It  was  the  posterior 
portion  of  the  grinder  of  the  great  mastodon,  (I  am  certain  of 
the  fact,)  containing,  as  far  as  I  recollect,  eight  points,  none 
of  which  had  been  cut,  or  brought  into  use.  On  the  first 
opportunity,  I  went  to  make  inquiry  about  it  at  the  chalk  pit. 
The  pitman  pointed  out  to  me  the  place  where  it  was  found, 
and  said,  that  the  whole  animal  was,  as  it  were,  lying  on  its  side, 
stretched  out  on  the  surface  of  the  marl.  He  described  it  as 
being  very  soft,  and  that  a  great  part  of  it  would  at  first  spread 
like  butter ;  the  whole,  however,  had  been  thrown  down  along 
with  the  marl,  and  carried  away.  He  said  he  had  looked 
upon  it  as  very  curious  indeed,  but  of  no  use  ;  and  he  had  kept 
that  piece  of  the  tooth  merely  by  accident.  He  afterwards  found 
another  fragment  or  two  of  the  bones,  in  his  garden,  where  he 
had  thrown  them,  and  he  sent  them  to  me.  They  are  now  in 
my  possession,  but  I  am  not  able  to  identify  them  with  the 
mastodon,  as  distinguished  from  the  mammoth,  or  elephant. 

*  Professor  Euckland  nnentions  the  bones  of  the  mastodon  as  hav- 
ing formed  a  part  of  that  remarkal)le  fossil  deposit,  formerly  alluded 
to,  on  the  banks  of  the  Arno,  in  Italv. 


216  GEOLOGY  OF  SCRIPTURE. 

The  grinder  I  sent  to  Dawson  Turner,  Esq.,  of  Great  Yar- 
mouth, who,  probably,  has  it  now.  Smith,  in  his  '  Strata 
Identified,'  has  g-iven  the  figure  of  a  very  fine  grinder,  (mas- 
todon's,) said  to  have  been  found  at  Whitlingham,  by  Nor- 
wich;  and  Mr.  Woodward,  of  Norwich,  has  a  fragment, 
which  appears  to  be  half  of  one  of  the  points  of  a  mastodon's 
grinder,  found  at  Bramerton,  adjoining  Whitlingham." 

We  have  here  the  most  clear  and  unquestionable  statement 
of  this  interesting  fossil  body,  and  on  the  testimony^  of  one, 
who  not  only  possesses,  perhaps,  the  most  perfect  collection 
of  the  teeth  of  the  mammoth  any  where  existing,  (amounting 
to  70,  of  all  ages  and  sizes,  selected  out  of  nearly  200,)  but 
who  has,  also,  made  this  curious  part  of  geological  research 
his  particular  study ;  and  who,  therefore,  could  not  possibly 
be  misled  with  respect  to  the  animal  in  question,  distinguish- 
ed, as  it  so  clearly  was,  by  the  form  of  its  grinders.  And  we 
have  thus  a  well-defined  instance  of  the  fossil  existence  of  a 
species  of  animal,  in  our  own  soils,  which  has  long  been 
looked  upon  as  exclusively  confined  to  the  continents  of 
America  alone. 

One  of  the  most  remarkable  features  of  both  the  known 
fossil  varieties  of  t^  elephant,  appears  to  have  been  the  oc- 
casional horn-like,  or  spiral  form  of  the  tusk.  It  is  tTie  opinion 
of  some  able  comparative  anatomists,  that  all  the  tusks,  even 
of  modern  elephants,  have  a  tendency  to  this  particular  shape ; 
but  this  opinion  does  not  appear  to  be  supported  either  by  the 
fossil  or  the  recent  specimens  of  ivory.  The  largest  recent 
tusks  with  which  we  are  acquainted,  have  seldom  been  found 
to  exhibit  much  indication  of  this  form  ;  and,  on  the  other 
hand,  many  fossil  tusks  have  been  found  as  uniform  in  their 
bend  as  those  of  the  common  elephants  most  generally  exhi- 
bited in  Europe.* 

*  It  is  highly  interesting  to  trace  the  history  of  such  immense  ani- 
mals as  the  elephant  ;  and  when  we  consider  the  high  value  that  has, 
at  all  times,  been  set  upon  his  tusks  as  an  article  of  commerce,  it 
appears  surprising  that  the  whole  race  has  not,  long  since,  become 
extinct.  We  know  that  elephants  are  in  some  countries  hunted  ex- 
clusively for  the  sake  of  their  ivory,  although  some  portion  of  our 
supply  may  also  be  derived  from  teeth  found  in  the  woods,  when 
the  animals  die,  or  are  destroyed  by  wild  beasts.  From  the  year 
1788  to  1799?  there  was  imported  into  Britain  at  the  rate  of  1576 
hundred  weight  of  ivory  annually !  Now,  if  we  take  the  average' 
weight  of  each  tusk  at  40  pounds,  which  is  a  veiy  low  estimate,  we 
find  that  upwards  of  tivo  thotisanil  of  these  noble  animals  must  have 


GEOLOGY  OF  SCPaPTURE.  217 

We  are  not,  however,  to  infer  from  these  variable  eviden- 
ces, either  that  all  fossil  elephants  had  spiral  tusks,  or  that 
all  recent  ones  have  those  of  a  simple  bend  upwards.* 

On  this  latter  point,  as  upon  the  subject  of  the  teeth  of  the 
mastodon,  we  must  reserve  our  judgment  until  we  have  a 
more  perfect  knowledge  of  all  the  existingr  varieties.  We 
ought  to  learn  caution  on  subjects  which  involve  such  import- 
ant conclusions,  from  the  numerous  instances  we,  from  time 
to  time,  experience,  of  being  forced  to  give  up  what  had  long 
been  looked  upon  as  well  established  facts.  From  such  in- 
stances we  may  safely  infer,  that  nature  has  not  undergone 
such  total  changes  as  we  are  generally  taught  to  suppose. 
The  planet  we  inhabit,  together  with  its  animal  and  vegetable 
productions,  remains  governed  by  the  same  general  laws  it 
ever  has  been  subjected  to,  since  the  creation.  The  numer- 
ous revolutions  of  the  continental  geology  must,  therefore, 
now  be  reduced  to  the  one  great  revolution,  recorded  in  the 
Inspired  Writings,  and  of  which  we  have  now  been  tracing 
so  many  unquestionable  proofs.  We  are  thus,  every  day, 
more  and  more  securely  confirmed  in  the  confidence  to  be  re- 
posed in  these  inestimable  records  ;  and  the  more  closely  we 
examine  the  evidences  by  which  they  are  corroborated,  the 
more  striking  is  their  resemblance  to  some  deep  bedded  rock, 
on  which  the  angry  waves  of  scepticism  are  for  ever  breaking 
in  vain,  j" 

perished  each  year,  to  supply  the  Bi-itish  market  alone !  Some  tusks 
have  been  known  to  w  eigh  from  325  to  350  pounds  :  and  100  pounds 
is  not  an  uncommon  weight ;  so  that  the  above  number  is,  probably, 
rather  below  than  above  the  real  annual  consumption.  If  we  add 
to  this  the  supply  necessary  for  the  rest  of  Europe,  and  of  the  East- 
ei-n  nations,  our  astonishment  is  excited  at  the  number  of  elephants 
that  must  anmially  perish ;  and  at  tlie  vast  extent  of  wild  country 
through  which  such  herds  must  range,  in  seeking  their  subsistence. 

*  In  the  iNIuseum  of  the  College  of  Edinburgh,  there  are  two  very 
large  fossil  tusks,  from  Siberia.  One  of  these  is  perfectly  formed, 
with  one  simple  bend  ;  the  other  is  very  slightly  of  the  cornuform, 
which  appears,  in  that  instance,  quite  accidental. 

t  Before  concluding  the  considei-ation  of  the  varieties  of  the  fossil 
elephant,  I  cannot  omit  this  opportunity  of  correcting  an  error  in 
which  our  ideas  of  these  antediluvian  animals  have  been  involved  : 
and  this  explanation  may  serve  to  show  how  easily  the  public  mind 
may  be  misled  by  the  most  trifling  and  casual  circumstances.  I  am 
enabled  to  mention  the  following  fact,  on  the  authority  of  Mr.  Clift, 
of  the  Royal  College  of  Surgeons,  who  kindly  communicated  it  to  me, 
and  has  permitted  me  to  make  it  public. 
T  2 


218  GEOLOGY  OF  SCRIPTURE. 

Ill  the  year  1799,  a  great  fossil  deposit,  of  animal  remains,  was 
discovered  near  Newburgh,  on  tine  Hudson  River  ;  and  in  this  there 
were  found  so  many  bones  of  the  fossil  elephant,  called  the  masto- 
don, that  two  nearly  complete  skeletons  were  constructed,  with  some 
little  assistance  from  artificial  means.  The  most  perfect  of  these  re- 
mained at  Philadelphia,  while  the  other  was  brought  over  for  exhibi- 
tion in  London;  and,  in  the  year  1802,  we  were  tlms,  for  tlie  first 
time,  presented  with  a  specimen  of  the  camiivorous  elephant,  (as  it 
was  then  thought  to  be.) 

This  curious  specimen  excited  much  attention  for  a  time,  and  some 
idea  of  its  purchase  was  entertained  ;  but  the  price  demanded  being 
great,  a  report  arose,  and  was  soon  circulated,  that  it  was  nothing 
but  the  skeleton  of  a  common  elephant,  and  was,  therefore,  not  wor- 
thy of  so  much  attention.  This  idea  threatened  seriously  to  affect  the 
profits  of  the  exhibitor  ;  and,  in  order  to  prevent  this,  and  to  keep 
up  public  attention  in  favour  of  a  highly  ingenious  and  deserving 
individual,  who  had,  at  great  expense,  introduced  so  rare  an  object 
amongst  us,  the  late  Dr.  Shaw,  of  tlie  British  Museum,  suggested 
the  idea  of  humouring  the  public  ;  and,  by  changing  the  position  of 
the  tusks,  thus  giving  a  totally  different  appearance  to  the  animal, 
and  restoring  its  credit  as  a  rare  and  interesting  object.  This  idea 
was  immediately  adopted.  The  tusks,  which  had  been  very  properly 
placed  so  as  to  point  upwards,  as  in  the  common  elephant,  were  now 
reversed,  and  placed  downwards  ;  and  one  of  the  great  resemblances 
to  the  common  race  having  now  disappeared,  the  animal  again  came 
into  public  favour,  and,  no  doubt,  was  considered  as  much  more 
fierce  and  carnivorous  looking  than  it  was  before,  being  thus  fui'- 
nished  with  hooks  for  the  capture  of  its  prey. 

Drawings  and  engravings  were  made  of  the  skeleton  in  this  dis- 
guise ;  and,  from  that  time  to  the  present,  the  common  impression  of 
the  public,  with  respect  to  the  mastodon,  is,  that  it  was  a  fierce  and 
^/iesh  eating  animal,  and  quite  unlike  the  miodern  race  of  elephants. 
In  a  late  number  of  a  cheap  and  popular  publication,  intended  for 
the  diffusion  of  knowledge  amongst  the  poor,  the  figure  of  the  mas- 
todon, or  the  mammoth,  is  accordingly  given  witli  the  tusks  placed 
in  this  unnatural  and  inconvenient  position. 


CHAPTER  XIII. 

Human  Fossil  Remains, —  Why  they  cannot  be  so  numerous  as 
tho^  of  other  Animals. — Lime-stone  Caves  and  Fissures. — 
An  Example  in  the  Cave  of  Gaylcnreuth^  with  its  Fossil  Con' 
tents. — Dr.  BucklandPs  Theory  of  Caves  and  Fissures, — 
Human  Fossils  found  at  Guadaloupe. — Also  at  Durfort, — 
Great  Fossil  Deposits  in  Spain,  containing  Human  Bones. — 
Quarries  at  Kiistritz,  containing  Human  Bones. — Natural 
Conclusions  from  the  above  Account. — Dr.  Buckland^s  Con- 
clusion respecting  Kostritz  inconsistent  with  other  parts  of 
his  TTieory. — Caves  and  Fissures  in  Lime-stone. — General 
spread  of  Diluvial  Effects. 

We  now  come  to  the  consideration  of  a  part  of  the  subject 
of  organic  fossil  remains  in  rocks  and  soils,  which  has, 
hitherto,  occasioned  very  considerable  difficulty,  and  has 
thrown  a  shade  of  doubt  and  uncertainty  over  the  historical 
account  of  the  deluge,  which,  however,  appears  to  be  totally 
unwarranted  by  facts.  I  allude  to  the  rarity  of  human  fossil 
remains  amongst  those  of  the  animated  beings,  which  are  fre- 
quently discovered  in  such  abundance  on  the  earth.  For,  it 
is  objected,  if  all  the  human  race,  excepting  one  single  family, 
perished  by  the  flood,  at  a  period  when  the  population  of  the 
world  must  have  been  very  considerable,  there  can  be  no 
good  reason  given  why  we  should  not  also  find  their  remains 
in  the  same  abundance  as  those  of  other  animals,  on  every 
part  of  the  surface  of  the  present  dry  lands. 

In  reply  to  this  objection,  it  may  be  answered,  that  there 
can  be  no  doubt  that  we  have  a  consistent  right  to  expect, 
occasionally,  to  find  such  fossil  remains.     But  that  we  should 


220  GEOLOGY  OF  SCRIPTURE. 

discover  them  in  any  thing  like  the  abundance  in  which  we 
find  the  remains  of  other  animals,  would  be  to  expect  what, 
from  the  very  nature  of  the  case  itself,  must  be  an  utter 
impossibility. 

When  we  look  back  to  the  early  history  of  the  world,  and 
consider  that  man  was  created,  one  muh  and  one  female^  from 
whom  the  whole  human  race  was  to  spring;  while  all  the 
other  species  of  animated  beings  were  produced  "  abundant- 
ly^^'' and  the  earth  at  once  replenished  with  them ;  we  must 
readily  perceive,  that  at  the  end  of  any  given  period,  such, 
for  instance,  as  the  1656  years  between  the  creation  and  the 
deluge,  there  could  be,  numtrically^  no  proportion  between 
the  race  of  man  and  that  of  other  animals.*  We  siiould 
come  to  the  same  conclusion,  even  in  our  own  times,  and  in  the 
most  populous  countries,  where,  as  in  England,  the  number 
of  inhabitants  bears  but  a  small  proportion  to  that  of  quadru- 
peds and  birds.f  Much  more  then,  if  we  extend  our  view 
generally,  over  the  whole  inhabited  earth,  where  the  immense 
forest  tracts  are  peopled  with  millions  of  quadrupeds  and 
birds,  for  every  hundred  of  the  hunian  species. 

For  instance,  if  we  conceive  any  such  event  as  the  deluge 
to  happen  to  the  continent  of  America,  at  the  present  time, 
when  the  wilds  of  that  country  are  swarming  with  deer,  wild 
cattle,  horses,  and  every  inferior  race  of  quadrupeds  and 
birds,  with  a  human  population,  scarcely  worthy  of  calcula- 

*  "  The  kingdom  of  Congo,  like  most  other  paints  of  Africa,  pro- 
duces a  prodigious  variety  of  wild  animals.  Amongst  the  most 
remarkable  are  the  elephants,  which  are  found  chiefly  in  Baurda,  a 
province  abounding  with  woods,  pastures  and  plenty  of  water.  They 
go  in  ti'oops  of  100  or  more,  and  some  are  said  to  be  of  so  monstrous 
a  size,  that  the  prints  of  their  feet  measure  from  four  to  seven  spans. 
They  delight  in  bathing  during  the  heat  of  the  day.  Lious,  of  im- 
mense size,  tigers,  wolves  and  other  beasts  of  prey,  abound  in  this 
country.  The  zebra,  the  wild  ass,  the  buffalo,  and  numerous  tribes 
of  deer  and  antelopes,  are  all  most  abundant;  and  the  forests  swarm 
•with  hysenas  and  wild  dogs,  which  hunt  in  packs  with  dreadful  howl- 
ings. " — Mibliot.   JJnivers.  de  Voyages. 

t  The  population  of  England,  which  is  not  exceeded  by  that  of 
any  country  in  Europe,  in  proportion  to  its  extent,  is  about  ten  or 
eleven  millions.  It  is  calculated  that  there  are  about  twenty-six 
millions  of  sheep  in  this  country  alone  ;  and  if  we  include  Scotland 
and  Wales,  where  the  disproportion  is  infinitely  greater,  we  may 
form  some  tolerable  idea  of  how  the  matter  stands,  when  we  add  to 
the  sheep,  every  other  species  of  quadruped  and  bird,  with  which 
our  woods  and  plains  are  so  abundantly  peopled. 


GEOLOGY  OF  SCRIPTURE.  221 

tion,  in  proportion :  we  should  feel  no  surprise,  if,  on  being 
enabled  to  examine  the  wreck,  we  should  discover  the  re- 
mains of  the  former,  in  thousands  of  instances,  for  one  of  the 
latter.*  Instead,  then,  of  exciting  astonishment,  or  creating 
donbt,  the  circumstance  of  the  comparative  rarity  of  human 
fossil  remains^  ought  rather  to  be  looked  upon  as  the  strongest 
confirmation  of  the  general  history  of  the  earth,  which  we  are 
now  considering.  We  must  keep  in  mind,  too,  that  it  is  only 
within  a  few  years,  and  in  a  very  confined  portion  of  the 
whole  earth,  that  fossil  remains,  in  diluvial  formations,  have 
excited  the  attention  which  they  now  do :  and  that  before  the 
study  of  comparative  anatomy  became  so  common  as  it  now 
is,  many  bones  must  have  been  frequently  discovered  which 
ought  to  have  been  considered  under  this  head,  but  which 
were,  in  ignorance,  mistaken  for  those  of  other  animals,  or 
attributed  to  some  more  recent  era.  It  is  certain  that,  at  all 
times,  since  the  deluge,  such  remains  must  frequently  have 
been  found;  but,  in  the  ignorance  and  darkness  of  past  ages, 
these  instances  have  generally  been  overlooked  and  forgotten. 
Besides,  as  such  discoveries  must  almost  always  be  made, 
even  in  our  own  enlightened  day,  by  the  most  ignorant  of  the 
people,  instances  must  still  frequently  occur,  which  would  be 
of  the  highest  interest  to  science,  but  which  are  lost  or  forgotten 
from  the  thoughtless  ignorance  of  the  peasants  who  discover 
them.  I 

*  "The  Missouri  and  Arkansas  territories,  which  would  be  capa- 
ble of  sustaining,  probably,  more  than  fifty  millions  of  inhabitants, 
if  in  a  state  of  civilization,  are,  at  present,  occupied  by  something 
moi'e  than  one  hundred  tliousand  Indians ;  and  they  have  been  com- 
puted to  contain  about  one  million  of  square  miles," 

*'  The  buffaloes  go  in  immense  hei-ds,  and  no  one,  ignorant  of  the 
extent  of  these  fertile  prairies,  can  form  any  idea  of  the  countless 
myriads  that  are  spread  over,  and  find  suppoi-t  on  them. " — Hunter''8 
JVLemoirs  of  his  Captivity  among  the  JK'orth  American  Indians. 

"On  the  south  of  the  river  Saladillo,  (in  Buenos  Ayres,)  are  tlie 
immense  plains  of  Pampas,  which  present  a  sea  of  Avaving  grass  for 
ni7ie  hundred  miles.  Their  luxuriant  herbage  affords  pasture  to  in- 
numei-able  herds  of  cattle,  which  rove  about  unowned  and  unvalued: 
they  are,  also,  the  abode  of  immense  troops  of  wild  horses,  deer, 
ostriches,  armadillos  and  every  sort  of  game. " 

t  On  three  sevei'al  occasions,  I  have  lately  had  opportunities  of 
remarking  the  careless  apathy  with  which  discoveries,  most  inter- 
esting to  science,  were  regarded,  both  by  overseers  and  labourers, 
in  extensive  works,  where  objects  were  every  day  discovered,  most 
likely  to  attract  their  cm*iosity  and  attention.     In  the  coal  mines. 


222  GEOLOGY  OF  SCRIPTURE. 

This  darkness  is,  however,  at  least  in  our  own  countrj^, 
passing  rapidly  away  ;  and  the  love  of  science  is  now  spread- 
ing- from  oar  own  shores  into  every  part  of  the  habitable 
globe  ;  from  whence,  w^e  may  hope,  that  the  instances  of  di- 
luvial human  fossil  remains  will  soon  be  greatly  accumulated, 
and  will  afford  us,  from  year  to  year,  additional  corroborative 
evidences  of  the  true  history  of  the  earth.  When  we  con- 
sider, indeed,  the  few  spots'on  the  surface  of  the  globe,  either 
by  art,  or  by  nature,  laid  open  to  our  inspection,  we  ought, 
perhaps,  to  feel  surprise  at  the  extent  to  wliich  our  knowledge 
has  already  attained. 

There  is  no  part  of  the  systems  of  geology,  of  the  present 
day,  in  which  more  scepticism  is  evinced  than  in  the  instan- 
ces which  have  occurred  of  human  fossil  remains  .•  and  it  has 
even  been,  by  some,  considered  nearly  ceTtain,Uhat  human 
beings  had  not  heen  created  at  the  period  when  the  other  ani- 
mals, whose  remains  we  find  in  a  fossil  state,  w^ere  the  in- 
habitants of  the  earth.  The  instances  of  human  remains, 
which  have  been,  hitherto,  discovered,  are  not  indeed  numer- 
ous ;  but  the}'  are  abundantly  sufficient  for  the  support  of  the 
general  system  now  under  consideration :  and  the  instances 
which  I  am  now  about  to  mention,  bring  this  branch  of  our 
subject,  in  the  most  natural  and  consistent  method,  within  the 
very  same  class  of  facts,  as  those  we  have  been,  hitherto, 
occupied  in  passing  under  our  review. 

Before  entering  upon  these  statements,  hov.ever,  it  may  be 
necessary  to  say  a  few  words  upon  the  subject  of  the  lime- 
stone caves  and  fissures,  in  which  such  animal  remains  are 
so  generally  found.  Tlie  nature  of  some  lime-stone  rocks  to 
split  into  fissures,  and  to  become  perforated  in  all  directions, 
by  cavities  more  or  less  extensive,  is  well  known  to  have 

both  of  England  and  of  Scotland,  I  have  seldom  met  with  any  work- 
man Avho  was  aware  that  trees  and  plants  were  visiljle  in  almost 
every  part  of  their  works  ;  they  have  no  difficulty  in  admitting  the 
fact  when  pointed  out  to  them';  but  the  situation  of  these  remains 
must  appear  so  improbable  to  them,  that  the}*  would  scarcely  credit 
the  evidence  of  their  senses.  One  pitman,  in  a  Scotch  coal  mine, 
appeared,  liowever,  to  have  viewed  the  interesting  objects  around 
him  with  more  attention.  Observing  that  I  held  my  light  towards 
the  walls  and  roofs  of  the  gallery,  without,  however,  having  made 
any  remark  to  him,  he  said,  "there  must  have  been  fine  confusion 
here,  sir,  in  the  time  of  Noah."  I  could  not  help  wishing  that  this 
remark  had  come  from  some  leading  member  of  our  scientific 
societies. 


GEOLOGY  OF  SCRIPTURE.  223 

given  rise  to  one  of  their  geological  names,  that  of  cavous 
limestone.  This  particular  character  is,  as  may  naturally  be 
supposed,  not  confined  to  any  country,  nor  to  any  district;  but 
is  as  universal  as  the  extensive  secondary  formation  to  which 
it  belongs.  Accordingly,  innumerable  instances  of  such  cav- 
ities may  be  found  in  all  countries;  but  they  have,  of  late, 
come  more  especially  into  notice  from  the  organic  remains  of 
diluvial  destruction,  which  they  have,  in  a  great  variety  of 
instances,  been  found  to  contain.  The  cave  of  Gaylenreuth, 
in  Franconia,  has  long  been  celebrated  for  such  animal  re- 
mains ;  and  as  an  account  of  one  will  serve  to  give  a  very 
general  idea  of  all  such  caverns  or  fissures,  I  shall  here  give 
Dr.  Buckland's  account  of  it ;  without,  however,  entering,  in 
any  degree,  into  his  theory  of  the  means  by  which  the  ani- 
mal remains  of  this,  or  other  caves,  came  into  their  present 
remarkable  situation. 

"  The  mouth  of  this  cave  is  situated  in  a  perpendicular 
rock,  in  the  highest  part  of  the  cliffs,  which  form  the  left  side 
of  the  valley  of  the  Weissent  river,  at  an  elevation  of  more 
than  300  feet  above  its  bed.  We  enter  by  an  aperture,  about 
seven  feet  high,  and  twelve  feet  broad  ;  and,  close  to  it,  we  ob- 
serve an  open  fissure  rising  from  the  cave,  towards  the  table- 
land above.*  The  whole  consists  principally  of  two  large 
chambers,  varying  in  breadth  from  ten  to  thirty  feet,  and  in 
height  from  three  to  twenty  feet.  The  roof  is,  in  most 
parts,  abundantly  hung  with  stalactite;  and,  in  the  first  cham- 
ber, the  floor  is  nearly  covered  with  stalagmite,  piled  in  ir- 

*  It  may  here  be  important  to  remark,  that  nearly  the  w  hole  of 
this  part  of  Germany  forms  one  great  table-land,  of  little  variety  on 
the  surface,  and  in  which  the  rivers,  (and  amongst  others,  the  Rhine,) 
run,  as  it  were,  intrenches,  the  sides  of  which  often  present  a  per- 
pendicular section  of  this  whole  secondary  formation  ;  and  the  same- 
ness of  character  in  both  sides  of  which  greatly  detracts  from  the 
beauty  of  the  scenery  for  wliicli  the  Rhine  is  more  particularly  cele- 
brated. That  all  this  plain  country,  connected  as  it  is  with  the  low- 
er levels  of  Belgium  and  Holland,  on  one  side,  and  of  Poland  and 
Russia  on  another,  once  formed  the  bed  of  the  sea,  is  a  fact  so  gen- 
erally admitted,  that  it  is  here  unnecessary  to  dwell  upon  it.  The 
period  at  which  this  state  of  things  existed  becomes  a  more  im- 
portant question  ;  and  if  I  have  succeeded  in  proving  tliat  the  chalk 
formations  of  France,  and  of  England,  were  in  this  state  immedi- 
ately previous  to  the  Mosaic  deluge,  and  by  that  event  were  ele- 
vated to  their  present  level  above  the  waters,  Ave  can  have  no  hesi- 
tation in  carrying  the  same  level,  and  the  same  line  of  reasoning, 
over  all  those  plains  of  Germany,  in  Avhich  these  cavities  are  found. 


224  GEOLOGY  OF  SCRIPTURE. 

regular  mamillated  heaps,  one  of  which,  in  the  centre,  is  ac- 
cumulated into  a  large  pillar,  uniting  the  roof  to  the  floor.* 

"From  the  first  chamber  we  descend,  by  ladders,  to  a  se- 
cond, the  floor  of  which  also  appears  to  have  been  overspread 
with  a  similar  crust :  this,  however,  has  been  nearly  destroy- 
ed by  holes  dug  through  it,  in  search  of  the  prodigious  quan- 
tities of  bones  that  lie  beneath.  This  last  chamber  is  connected 
by  a  low  and  narrow  passage,  with  a  smaller  cavern,  at  the 
bottom  of  which  there  is  a  circular  hole,  descending  like  a 
well,  about  twenty-five  feet,  and  from  three  to  four  in  diame- 
ter. The  circumference  of  this  hole,  in  descending,  is,  for 
the  most  part,  composed  of  a  breccia  of  bones,  pebbles,  and 
loam,  cemented  by  stalagmite.  The  depth  to  which  this  ex- 
tends has  not  yet  been  ascertained.  The  roof  and  sides  of  all 
the  artificial  cavities,  (formed  in  the  search,)  are  crowded  with 
teeth  and  bones :  but  these  do  not  occur  in  the  roof  or  sides  of 
any  of  the  upper,  or  natural  chambers,  above  the  level  of  the 
stalagmitic  crust  that  covers  the  floor.  This  observation  ap- 
plies equally  to  all  other  lime-stone  caverns  of  this  descrip- 
tion, and  is  important  on  account  of  the  erroneous  statements 
and  opinions  which  exist  on  this  subject.  The  floor  of  the 
first  chamber  has  been  already  stated  to  be  almost  entirely 
covered  with  a  crust  of  stalagmite.  Through  this  crust  large 
holes  have  been  dug,  and  in  these  we  see  a  bed  of  brown 
diluvial  loam  and  pebbles,  mixed  with  angular  fragments  of 
rock,  and  with  teeth  and  bones.  I  could  not  ascertain  the  depth 
of  this  diluvium. 

"  In  the  second  chamber  the  formation  is  of  the  same  de- 
scription, but  more  abundantly  laoded  with  bones.  Its  depth 
appears  to  be  irregular,  and,  in  some  parts,  extremely  deep. 
A  side  chamber  descends  rapidly  into  the  body  of  the  rock, 
and  contains  cart  loads  of  teeth,  bones,  and  pebbles,  dispersed 
through  a  loose  mass  of  brown  diluvial  loam,  but  not  united 
by  stalagmite."  "  The  distribution  of  the  component  mate- 
rials of  the  breccia  of  these  caves  is  irregular ;  in  some  parts 

*^When  water  is  filtered  through  lime- stone,  it  becomes  impreg- 
nated with  a  calcareous  principle  5  and  when  exposed  to  evaporation 
in  the  atmosphere,  it  deposits  a  stony  matter,  in  the  same  form  as 
icicles  in  a  moist  cave  or  cellar  ;  such  stony  icicles  are  often  seen  de- 
pendent from  the  arches  of  bridges  lately  constructed,  being  formed 
from  the  mortar  used  in  the  building.  When  the  matter  is  foi'med 
on  the  roof  of  a  cave,  it  is  called  stalactite  5  when  on  the  floor,  it  is 
named  stalagmite. 


GEOLOGY  OF  SCRIPTURE.  225 

the  earthy  matter  is  wholly  wanting-,  and  we  have  simply  a 
congeries  of  agglutinated  bones,-  in  others,  the  pebbles 
abound  ;  in  a  third  place,  one  half  of  the  whole  mass  is  loam, 
and  the  remainder  teeth  and  Ijones.  The  state  of  preservation 
of  these  animal  remains,  when  inerusted  with  stalagmite,  is 
quite  perfect,  and  the  colour  a  yellowish  Vv^iite."* 

This  cave  of  Gaylenreuth  is  only  one  of  many  such  lime- 
stone caverns  in  the  same  neighbourhood,  all  furnished,  in 
this  manner,  with  similiar  witnesses  of  diluvial  destruction. 

Dr.  Buckland's  account  of  the  cave  of  Kuhloch  is  truly  re- 
markable. "It  is  literally  true,"  says, he  "that  in  this  single 
cavern,  (the  size  and  proportions  of  which  are  nearly  equal  to 
those  of  a  large  church,)  there  are  hundreds  of  cart-loads  of 
black  ANIMAL  DUST,  entirely  covering  the  whole  floor  to  a 
depth  which  must  average,  at  least,  six  feet,  and  the  cubit 
contents  of  which  must  exceed  5000  feet.  If  we  allow  two 
cubic  feet  of  dust  and  bones  for  each  individual  animal,  we 
shall  have,  in  this  single  vault,  the  remains  of  at  least  2500 
BEARS,  a  number  which  may  have  been  supplied  in  the  space 
of  1000  years,  by  a  mortality  at  the  rate  of  two  and  a  half  per 
annum." 

Dr.  Buckland's  theory  of  the  mode  by  which  such  animal 
remains  became  enclosed  in  caves,  in  every  similar  situation, 
is  simply,, that  all  such  caverns  were,  before  the  deluge,  in- 
habited by  wild  beasts,  which,  in  some  cases,  as  at  Kirkdale, 
accumulated  the  bones  of  their  prey  in  great  quantities  in  their 
dens ;  and  in  others,  as  in  the  above  mentioned  caves  of  Ger- 
many, the  animals  died  a  natural  death,  when  their  decom- 
posed remains  were  gradually  added  to  the  common  stock ; 
and  while  the  diluvial  currents  were  in  force,  the  waters, 
filling  these  caverns,  and  drifting  into  them  a  mixture  of  mud 
and  rolled  pebbles,  the  whole  mass  of  loam,  gravel,  and 
bones,  subsided  into  the  hollows  of  the  cave,  became  mixed 
up  together  in  the  confused  state  we  now  find  them ;  and, 
in  the  course  of  subsequent  years,  the  whole  surface  be- 
came inerusted  with  stalagmite,  often  forming  a  hard  and  stony 
breccia. 

As  to  the  bones  of  animals,  accompanied  with  loam  and 
gravel,  contained  in  the  fissures,  or  more  confined  cavities  of 
lime-stone  rocks,  Professor  Buckland  looks  upon  it  as  certain 
that  these  were  open  fissures  before  the  deluge,  and  that  num- 

*  Reliq.  Dihiv.  page  133. 


226  GEOLOGY  OF  SCRIPTURE. 

bers  of  the  wild  animals  of  that  period,  endowed,  it  would 
seem,  with  a  much  smaller  degree  of  natural  instinct  than 
those  of  our  own  day,  carelessly  wandering  among  the  woods 
and  pastures,  fell  m,  and  perished.  That  ihe  bones  of  these 
animals  were  of  a  much  less  perishable  nature,  than  in  our  own 
times,  is  thus  evident;  for,  during  the  whole  period,  previous 
to  the  deluge,  or  for  upwards  of  1600  years,  these  open 
fissures  preserved  their  animal  prey;  and  when  the  diluvial 
gravel  and  earthy  sediments  came  to  be  lodged  in  them,  the 
whole  of  the  bones  were  not  compressed  at  the  bottom,  as  we 
should  naturally  have  expected,  but  were  mixed  up  in  com- 
plete chaos,  together  with  these  earthy  sediments  in  every 
part  of  the  fissures ;  though  they  are,  in  numberless  cases,  of 
prodigious  depth  and  extent. 

Had  the  above  theory  respecting  caves,  being  formed  upon 
the  solitary  instance  of  one  cave,  or  even  a  set  of  caves  in  the 
same  locality,  containitig  the  bones  of  one  species  of  animal^ 
such,  for  instance,  as  bearsy  we  might  have  looked  upon  it  as 
not  only  highly  ingenious,  but  as  having  even  much  appear- 
ance of  probability  :  but  when  we  extend  our  view  over  the 
whole  earth,  and  coolly  examine  all  the  circumstances  of  in- 
numerable cases,  of  a  similar  nature,  we  cannot  fail  to  per- 
ceive the  inconsistency  of  the  whole  theory,  and  consequent- 
ly, that  the  abovementioned  "  animal  dust"  must  be  attributed 
to  a  different  cause  from  that  of  the  gradual  decay  of  "  two 
THOUSAND  FIVE  HUNDRED  BEARS  in  the  space  o/lOOO  yearsy  at 
the  rate  of  two  and  a  half  per  annum  /" 

Amongst  other  proofs  of  the  solid  foundation  on  which  this 
singular  theory  has  been  offered,  and  so  generally  accepted  as 
satisfactory,  by  the  scientific  world,  we  must  be  informed,  on 
the  surest  evidence,  of  some  one  jjost-diluvial  cave,  inhabited, 
like  Gaylenreuth,  by  hundreds  of  bears  at  the  same  time,  and 
of  the  unnatural  habit  of  these  animals  to  admit  of  even  two 
and  a  half  putrid  carcasses  in  the  year,  to  rot  and  moulder  to  a 
black  '"'' a7iimal  dusf^  under  their  very  feet.  The  range  of  the 
Jura  mountains  is  the  exact  situation  where  the  professor's 
search  ought  to  be  directed ;  for  there,  in  a  climate  very  simi- 
lar to  that  of  Germany,  are  to  be  found,  in  considerable  abun- 
dance, not  only  bears  in  the  most  savage  state,  but  eaves  and 
fissures,  of  lime-stone  rock,  of  exactly  a  similar  nature.  In 
Geneva,  the  tables  of  the  curious  are  every  winter  spread 
with  this  species  of  game ;  and  the  peasants,  on  both  sides  of 
the  Jura,  are  so  partial  to  the  chase  of  the  bear,  that  his 


GEOLOGY  OF  SCRIPTURE.  227 

haunts  and  habits  are  as  well  known  as  those  of  the  red  deer 
to  the  Scottish  Highlander.  We  may  add  a  hope,  that  the 
Zoological  Societies  of  London,  with  that  zeal  for  scientific 
information  for  which  they  are  so  distinguished,  will  turn 
their  attention  to  this  important  and  interesting  trait  in  the 
natural  history  of  the  bear. 

I  shall  now  proceed  to  lay  before  my  readers  the  accounts 
of  such  undoubted  instances  of  human  fossil  remains  as  are  at 
present  known  to  science  :  and  that  I  may  avoid,  as  much  as 
possible,  all  appearance  of  prejudice,  in  favour  of  the  views  I 
am  at  present  supporting,  I  shall  quote  the  statements  of  these 
instances  from  the  works  of  writers  who  have  held  very  dif- 
ferent opinions  from  myself;  and  who  appear,  in  some  in- 
stances, to  have  written  these  accounts  under  a  general  and 
commonly  received  impression,  that  any  thing,  of  human 
form,  could  not  be  oi  antediluvian  date,  or,  strictly  speaking, 
fossil.  It  is  not  difficult  to  trace  this  very  common,  though 
erroneous  impression,  to  those  theories  of  geology,  which 
cannot  imagine  any  stratum,  or  formation  of  rock,  to  have 
taken  place,  except  z?i  the  course  of  a  very  long  period  of  years  ;. 
and  by  which  the  immense,  yetinciefinite  age  of  the  globe,  is 
thus  looked  upon  as  a  firmly  established  fact.  By  those  theo- 
ries, a  regular  succession  of  creations  is  taught;  the  animals, 
found  in  the  lowest  secondary  strata,  being,  as  a  matter  of 
course,  less  recent  than  those  whose  remains  are  found  above 
them.  Man,  therefore,  having  been  rarely  found  in  a  fossil 
state,  his  remains,  when  discovered  in  rocks  or  soils,  are  gene- 
rally regarded  as  accidental  occurrences,  arising  from  ancient 
battle  fields,  falling  into  fissures,  or  the  like. 

It  may,  however,  be  safely  asserted,  that  in  the  whole  his- 
tory of  fossil  animal  remains,  there  is  nothing  more  clearly 
defined,  or  more  completely  certain,  than  the  antediluvian 
date  of  many  human  fossils  ;  and  it  is  to  be  hoped,  that  the  fol- 
lowing statements  will  at  once  be  stripped  of  all  their  mj'stery, 
to  those  who  have  entered  into  the  line  of  reasoning  adopted 
in  this  treatise,  with  respect  to  the  newer  secondary,  or  dilu- 
vial strata  of  the  earth. 

The  first  account  which  I  propose  considering,  is  contained 
in  a  letter  from  Mr.  Konig  to  sir  Joseph  Banks,  published  in 
the  Philosophical  Transactions  for  1814.  It  relates  to  the 
human  remains  embedded  in  limestone  rock,  at  Guadaloupe. 

"All  the  circumstances,"  says  Mr.  Konig,  "under  wiiich 
the  known  depositions  of  bones  occur,  both  in  alluvial  beds^ 


22S  GEOLOGY  OF  SCRIPTURE. 

and  in  caves  and  fissures  of  the  floetz  lime-stone,  tend  to 
prove,  that  the  animals  to  which  they  belonged,  met  their 
fate  in  the  very  places  where  they  now  lie  buried.  Hence, 
it  may  be  considered  an  axiom,  that  man,  and  other  animals, 
whose  bones  are  not  found  intermixed  with  them,  did  not  co- 
exist in  time  and  place.  The  same  mode  of  reasoning  w^ould 
fully  justify  us  in  the  conclusion,  that  if  those  catastrophes, 
which  overwhelmed  a  great  proportion  of  the  brute  creation, 
were  general,  as  geognostic  observations,  in  various  parts  of  the 
world,  render  probable,  the  creation  of  man  must  have  been 
posterior  to  that  of  the  genera  and  species  of  mammalia, 
which  perished  at  the  great  cataclysm,  and  whose  bones  are 
so  thiclily  disseminated  in  the  more  recent  formations  of 
rocks." 

I  must  here  rfemark,  that  it  is  not  my  object,  in  this  place, 
strictly  to  criticise  the  very  interesting  paper  from  which  the 
above  is  taken  ;  but  I  quote  the  preface,  in  order  to  show  the 
general  impression  under  which  the  whole  of  this  account 
was  written ;  an  impression  which  was  then  pretty  generally 
felt  amongst  all  geologists. 

After  nearly  20  years  of  additional  experience  and  know- 
ledge in  this  interesting  science,  it  may  be,  by  some,  con- 
sidered scarcely  fair  to  bring  forward  the  written  opinions  of 
those  early  times  ,•  and  I  should  certainly  feel  disposed  to  take 
this  view  of  the  subject,  were  it  not  that,  however  the  geo- 
logical views  of  the  able  author  of  this  paper  may  have 
changed,  with  regard  to  human  fossil  remains,  it  must  be 
admitted,  that  the  general  impression  on  this  branch  of  geo- 
logy, is,  at  the  present  day,  exactly  such  as  is  so  clearly 
defined  in  the  above  passage :  and  when  we  consider  the 
importance  and  weight  which  are  very  naturally  attached  to 
the  opinions  of  the  great  leaders,  in  the  scientific,  as  in  the 
political  world,  we  cannot  but  admit  the  necessity  which 
brings  those  public  and  important  documents  under  our  strict- 
est review. 

"  The  human  skeletons  from  Guadaloupe,  are  found  in 
that  part  of  the  windward  side  of  the  grande  ierre,  called  La 
Moulle;  and  they  are  enveloped  in  what  M.  Lavaisse,  in  his 
Voyage  a  la  Trinidad,  (1813,)  calls  'Masses  de  Madrepore 
petrifies.'  The  block  brought  home  by  sir  Alexander  Coch- 
rane was  about  eight  feet  long,  by  two  and  a  half  wide, 
and  one  and  a  half  thick,  being  of  nearly  two  tons  weight.  Its 
shape  was  irregular,  approaching  to  a  flattened  oval.     Ex- 


GEOLOGY  OF  SCRIPTURE.  229 

cepting'  the  few  holes,  evidently  made  to  assist  in  raising  the 
block,  there  were  no  marks  of  a  tool ;  and,  indeed,  the  whole 
had  very  much  the  appearance  of  a  huge  nodule,  disengaged 
from  a  surrounding  mass.  The  situation  of  the  skeleton  in 
the  hlock  was  so  superficial,  that  its  presence  in  the  rock, 
on  the  coast,  had,  probably,  been  indicated  by  the  projection 
of  some  of  the  more  elevated  parts  of  the  left  fore  arm." 

Mr.  Konig  then  proceeds  to  describe  minutely  the  deranged 
condition  of  the  bones,  and  states,  that  the  whole  of  them, 
when  first  laid  bare,  had  a  mouldering  appearance;  but,  after 
an  exposure  of  some  days  to  the  air,  they  acquired  a  con- 
siderable degree  of  hardness.  The  calcareous  rock  in  which 
these  human  remains  are  embedded,  is  an  aggregate,  comj}osed 
chiejly  of  zoophytic  particles,  and  the  detritus  of  common 
lime-stone.  Its  general  colour  is  grayish  yellow,  and  it  is 
harder  than  statuary  marble.  There  were  shells  in  the  mass; 
one  of  which  appeared  to  be  the  tia-bo  pica  of  Linnasus ;  it 
was  in  a  worn  state,  and  the  brown  spots  were  still  distinctly 
seen  on  its  surface.  "  Besides  these  bodies,"  continues  Mr. 
Konig,  "  I  found  near  the  surface  of  the  block,  part  of  a  bone 
of  a  concentric  lamellated  structure,  apparently  the  fragment 
of  a  tusk,  but  of  what  animal  I  was  unable  to  define.  From 
this  description  of  the  rock,  it  will  be  sufficiently  clear,  that 
it  is  by  no  means  of  a  stalactetic  character,  and,  therefore, 
cannot  be  compared  either  with  travertino,  or  any  other  chemi- 
cal calcareous  deposition  of  this  kind.  Its  origin  seems  un- 
questionably to  be  that  of  common  sand-stone ;  only,  that  the 
grains  of  which  it  is  composed,  have,  in  some  parts,  become 
confluent,  and  have  formed  a  nearly  compact  lime-stone. 

"Respecting  the  age  of  these  fossil  remains,  if  not  much 
positive  information  can  be  derived  from  the  preceding  de- 
tails, this  will  prove,  at  least,  that  the  enveloping  rock  is  not 
of  a  stalactetic  nature;  and  that  the  bones,  after  they  Avere 
deposited,  underwent  a  degree  of  violence,  which  dislocated 
and  fractured  them,  without  removing  the  fragments  to  a 
distance  from  each  other.  It  may,  therefore,  be  safely  con- 
cluded, that  the  surrounding  mass  must  have  been  in  a  soft 
or  semi-fluid  st?ite;  which,  whilst  it  opposed  no  effectual  re- 
sistance to  a  shock  from  without,  readliy  filled  up  the  chasms 
produced  by  it."  M.  Lavaisse,  above  mentioned,  states,  that 
*  the  bed  of  lime-stone  in  which  these  nodules,  containing,  in 
many  instances,  human  fossil  bones,  are  found,  is  nearly  an 
U  2 


230  GEOLOGY  OF  SCRIPTURE. 

English  mile  in  length  along  the  shore,  and  is  covered  by 
the  waves  at  high  water.'  " 

Tlie  head  is  wanting  in  this  most  interesting  fossil  speci- 
men, and,  also,  the  right  arm,  hoth  the  feet,  and  the  ribs  of 
the  right  side.  Notwithstanding,  however,  this  imperfect 
condition,  the  general  form  stands  in  high  relief  from  the 
embedding  lime-stone  ;  and  as  the  block  is  placed  in  an  up- 
right posture,  the  beautiful  proportions  of  a  female  form, 
which  appears  to  imply  youth^  and  a  striking,  though  fortui- 
tous resemblance  to  the  position  of  the  celebrated  Venus  de 
Medicis,  gives  to  the  whole  a  degree  of  intense  interest, 
which  no  other  known  fossil  can,  in  the  least  degree,  lay 
claim  to.  For,  in  contemplating  this  form  "  of  other  days," 
the  mind  experiences  a  mixed  feeling  of  wonder,  of  curiosity, 
and  of  commiseration.  We  long  to  be  made  acquainted  with 
the  personal  history,  and  to  take  an  interest  in  the  mental 
feelings  which  once  belonged  to  this  mortal  form.  What  a 
tale  of  woe  could  she  unfold,  if  now  again  endowed  with 
speech  !  The  dreadful  scenes  of  her  latter  days  would  pre- 
sent a  picture,  which  the  most  lively  imagination  is  totally 
incapable  of  conceiving. 

The  mind  derives  a  painful  pleasure  in  dwelling  upon  the 
subject,  and  in  tracing,  in  various  colours,  the  incidents,  the 
language,  and  the  feelings,  by  which  this  stony  body  was 
once  influenced,  in  a  degree,  as  acute  as  we  ourselves  expe- 
rience. The  skull  of  Yorick  is  as  nothing,  when  compared 
to  this,  as  a  moral  lesson ;  for  in  the  delicate  female  form 
now  before  us,  we  contemplate  the  actual  bodily  remains  of 
one,  who  has  painfully  experienced  the  terrible  judgments  of 
an  OFFENDED  Deity.* 

I  shall  close  this  short,  but  interesting  account  of  the  hu- 
man fossils  of  Guadaloupe,  with  the  remark,  that  no  hesita- 
tion could  have  been  felt  ^.s  to  their  being  of  antediluvian 
origin^  had  they  been  the  remains  of  quadrupeds^  and  not  of 
the  human  race  :  but  so  strong  is  the  effect  of  pre-conception, 
that,  although  every  thing  here  tends  to  demonstrate  the  fact 

*  in  a  former  arrangen:ient  of  our  great  national  museum,  tliis, 
the  most  interesting  of  all  known  fossils,  occupied  a  highly  conspicu- 
ous place.  At  the  present  time,  it  is  concealed  in  an  obscure  corner 
of  an  obscure  closet.  It  is  to  be  hoped,  that  the  managers  of  the 
British  Museum  will  make  such  arrangement  as  may  again  exhibit 
this  specimen,  as  it  so  well  merits,  in  "  tlie  place  of  honour"  of  oxir 
splendid  collection. 


GEOLOGY  OP  SCRIPTURE.  231 

in  the  clearest  manner,  yet  the  mind  of  the  very  able  geolo- 
gist I  have  just  quoted,  found  a  difficulty  in  admitting  a  fact 
so  entirely  inconsistent  with  all  the  received  laws  of  the  con- 
tinental theories  of  geology. 

We  cannot  question,  however,  the  clearness  of  the  fact, 
that  this  interesting  specimen  is  the  mutilated  body  of  an  ante- 
diluvian female^  which,  having  lost  the  head,  and  being,  in  other 
respects,  far  gone  in  decay,  became  embedded,  in  this  shattered 
state,  in  the  muddy  sediments  of  the  diluvial  waters ;  which 
sediments,  composed  of  shelly  detritus,  and  having,  also,  em- 
bedded in  it  the  tusk  of  some  quadruped,  and  various  knowm 
marine  shells,  has  since  been  hardened  into  "  a  nearly  pure 
limestone.''''  When  we  examine  the  specimen  of  the  croco- 
dile, taken  from  the  quarry  at  Shotover,  (and  now  in  Profes- 
sor Buckland's  collection  at  Oxford,)  having  sea  shells  attached 
to  it,  we  never,  for  a  moment,  doubt  that  it  was  of  antedilu- 
vian origin.  Let  us  judge  of  this  human  fossil,  accompanied, 
in  like  manner,  by  marine  productions,  with  the  same  degree 
of  candour,  and  with  an  unprejudiced  mind  ;  and  the  theories 
which  thus  contradict  the  inspired  narrative,  with  respect  to 
the  period  of  the  creation  of  man,  must  for  ever  fall  to  the 
ground.* 

I  now  proceed  to  state  the  phenomena  exhibited  in  the 
lime-stone  formation  at  Durfort,  in  France,  as  they  are  de- 

*  There  cannot  be  a  doubt,  tbat  if  tbis  lime-stone  bed,  on  the  sea 
shore  of  Guadalovipe,  were  propei'ly  examined,  or  if  there  Avere  oc- 
casion to  intersect  it  by  quarries,  we  should  soon  obtain  many  other 
conclusive  and  undeniable  proofs  of  its  diluvial  origin.  A  stratum 
of"  pure  lime-stone"  cannot  be  supposed  to  extend  a  mile,  or  inore, 
along  a  coast,  without  also  extending  laterally,  in  an  inland  direc- 
tion, for  a  considerable  distance.  It  has  been  long  looked  upon  as 
the  most  probable  origin  of  tbis  bed,  that  the  waters  of  the  sea  having, 
in  many  instances,  a  property  of  rapidly  depositing  calcareous  mat- 
ter, must  have  cemented  together  tlie  sands  upon  that  coast,  and  tlius 
petrified  every  substance  tbat  happened  to  be  embedded  in  them. 
This,  it  must  be  admitted,  is  taking  a  very  prejudiced  and  limited 
view  of  the  subject ;  for  a  conglomerate,  thus  formed  of  the  varied 
particles  of  a  common  sea  beach,  would  present  a  very  diffei-ent  ap- 
pearance in  the  fracture,  from  what  is  exhibited  in  the  close  and 
equal  texture  of  the  specimen  in  the  British  Museum.  There  can 
be  no  doubt,  tbat  in  a  formation,  containing  one  human  fossil,  accom- 
panied by  one  tusk,  and  various  shells,  we  might,  on  further  inspec- 
tion, discover  such  animals  as  tbat  tusk  must  have  belonged  to, 
besides  many  other  equally  distinct  proofs  of  tlie  true  period  of  tlie 
origin  of  this  interesting  formation. 


232  GEOLOGY  OF  SCRIPTURE. 

teiled  and  published  by  M.  D'Horabres  Firmas,  in  the  seven- 
teenth volume  of  the  Biblioteque  Universelle,  for  1821,  p.  33. 
M.  Firmas  opens  his  account  of  these  phenomena,  by  re- 
marking, that  the  environs  of  Durfort,  near  Alais,  in  the  de- 
partment of  Garde,  in  the  South  of  France,  are  of  the  high- 
est interest  to  mineralogists,  from  the  mines  of  calamine, 
crystals  of  barytes,  and  other  minerals,  which  are  abundantly 
found  in  that  neighbourhood;  where  are,  also,  displayed  "  the 
most  astonishing  quantities  of  silicious,  calcareous,  and  py- 
Titows  petrified  SHELhS,  some  of  which  are  of  the  rarest  sort." 
When  M.  Firmas  was,  for  the  first  time,  at  Durfort,  in 
1795,  he  was  informed  by  the  peasants  of  the  existence  of  a 
cave,  which  contained  what  they  called  petrified  men. 

He,  at  first,  thought  that  this  idea  must  have  arisen  from 
the  stalactetic  formations  common  to  lime-stone  cavities  ;  and 
that  the  ignorant  superstition  of  the  peasants  must  have  at- 
tributed to  these  the  supposed  human  form.      They  added, 
however,  the  supposition,  common  in  the  country,  that  after 
some  very  ancient  battle,  the  dead  had  been  carried  to  this 
species  of  catacomb,  which  was  every  where  inown  by  the 
name    of  the  Baoumo  das  Morts.     These  reports,  however, 
made  him  very  desirous  of  visiting  the  cave,  and  he  was,  ac- 
cordingly, conducted  to  it,  a  little  way  to  the  north  of  the 
village,  and  almost  at  the  top  of  the  mountain  of  Lacoste, 
which  is  "of  the  old  limestone  formation,"  and  the  height  of 
which  is  about  500  feet  above  the  level  of  the  Mediterranean. 
The  mouth  of  this  cavern  consists  of  a  fissure  in  the  rock, 
into  which  one  is  obliged  to  descend  nearly  perpendicularly 
for  above  10  feet,  pressing,  with  the  back  and  the  knees, 
against  the  sides  of  the  fissures,  as  chimney-sweepers  do. 
They  at  length  entered  the  baume  des  morts,  which  is  a  cavity 
not  more  than  10  or  12  feet  in  its  greatest  width,  and  in  which 
a  man  of  common  stature  can  scarcely  stand  upright.     The 
roof,  the  walls,  and  the  whole  interior  of  this  cave,  are  lined 
with  stalactite  of  a  dirty  white  colour,  approaching  to  brown. 
It  is  neither  vast  nor  brilliant  in  its  interior.     "  The  unequal 
ground  on  which  he  stood,  was  formed  of  bones,  covered  with 
stalagmite,  filling  all  the  intervals  which  had  separated  them, 
and  forming  a  solid  mass  of  various  dimensions." 

"  We  detached  some  fragments  from  this  mass,-  by  means 
of  a  hammer  and  chisil;  they  were  filled  with  bones,  which 
we  recognized  as  human,  or,  at  least,  the  greater  part  of 
them  ;  for  there  were  many  so  broken  and  imrustcd,  that  we 


GEOLOGY  OF  SCRIPTURE.  233 

could  not  decide  whether  they  belonged  to  our  own  species, 
or  to  the  bodies  of  other  animals. 

*'  We  have  shown  these  bones,  such  as  the  cranium^  the 
jaws,  and  other  parts,  to  some  of  the  savans  at  Paris,  and  they 
admit  not  of  a  doubt  as  to  what  they  must  have  originally 
belonged  to.  They  seemed  thrown  together,  pele-mele,  in 
the  pate,  which  incloses  them  ;  and  they  are  in  such  quanti- 
ties, that  they  formed  more  than  the  half  of  the  whole  mass." 

M.  Firmas  then  attempts  to  account  for  the  circumstances 
and  phenomena  attending  this  remarkable  cave ;  in  doing 
w^hich,  he  first  attributes  the  stalactites  to  the  action  of  run- 
ning water ;  and  then  very  naturally  asks,  where  that  water 
could  have  come  from]  "For,"  says  he,  "the  mountain  of 
Lacoste  is  entirely  separated  from  all  the  neighbouring 
heights ;  and  the  brooks,  which  run  between  these  heights, 
are,  consequently,  very  low.  The  rains  could  not  have  oc- 
casioned them,  as  it  is  evident  that  these  stalactites  have  not 
made  any  perceptible  progress  in  the  course  of  the  last  25 
years. 

"  This  grotto  is  not  accessible  to  quadrupeds ;  the  bones 
which  it  contains  do  not  appear  to  have  been  worn  by  rolling  : 
it  could  not  have  been  a  burying-ground  of  the  country  ;  for 
they  never  would  have  chosen  a  place  so  distant,  and  in  the 
midst  of  the  woods  ;  besides,  it  would  have  been  too  difficult 
to  have  introduced  bodies  by  the  fissure  through  which  we 
descended ;  and  we  looked  in  vain,  in  every  part,  both  of  the 
interior  and  exterior  of  the  cave,  for  any  other  opening. 

"  There  exists,"  says  he,  "  in  other  countries,  similar  de- 
posits of  bones.  We  need  not  speak  of  those  of  Germany, 
Hungary,*  Gibraltar,  and  the  Archipelago  ;  but  the  human 
bodies  found  near  Soissons,  in  1635  ;  petrified  bodies  found  in 
Guadaloupe  ;  the  incorporated  bones  in  calcareous  rocks,  in  a 
cave  in  Somersetshire ;  and  also  those  of  this  Baume  des 
Morts,  are  all  evident  instances  of  the  fossil  remains  of  our 
own  species." 

There  is  little  occasion  for  further  remark  upon  the  fossil 

*  In  the  Carpathian  chahi  of  mountains,  in  Hungary,  grottoes  are 
very  numerous,  in  some  of  the  calcareous  strata.  The  principal  of 
these  are,  Mazarna,  and  Dupna,  in  the  district  of  Thurotz  ;  Drach- 
enhole,  in  that  of  Liptau  ;  Ilolgoez,  in  Zips ;  Altelek,  in  Geomor ; 
and  Sziliacz,  in  Torn.  Bones  and  skeletons,  partly  petrified,  are 
found  in  these  grottoes  5  and  the  most  beautiful  stalactites  of  every 
size  and  form. 


234  GEOLOGY  OF  SCRIPTURE. 

remains  found  in  this  cave  :  they  are  evidently  attributable  to 
the  same  diluvial  cause,  by  means  of  which  the  innumerable 
lime-stone  eaves  of  all  secondary  countries  have  been  so 
abundantly  furnished.  In  our  own  country  we  have  a  vast 
variety  of  instances  of  this  sort ;  many  of  them  have  been 
Xery  fully  detailed  by  Professor  Buckland,  in  his  Reliquias 
Diluvianae  ;  but  from  the  particular  geolog-ical  theory  which 
has  arisen  in  consequence  of  his  views,  with  respect  to  the 
cave  of  Kirkdale,  viz.  that  it  was  inhabited  hy  hyaenas  before 
the  flood,  who  preyed  upon  the  elephants  and  rhinoceri 
which  pastured  in  the  forests  of  Yo?'kshire,  the  true  causes  of 
such  animal  deposits  have  been  hitherto,  in  a  great  measure, 
distorted  or  concealed.  Having  elsewhere  shown  the  total 
fallacy  of  the  whole  of  this  theory,  it  follows  that  we  must 
look  for  a  principle  less  contradictory,  and  more  consistent 
with  the  laws  of  nature,  and  with  the  phenomena  themselves. 
This  principle  I  have  already,  in  some  degree,  explained ;  but 
I  shall  reserve  the  few  remarks  I  have  further  to  make  upon 
the  subject,  until  we  have  perused  the  details  of  the  other 
fossil  deposits  connected  with  this  branch  of  our  inquiry. 

The  third  remarkable  instance  of  indiscriminate  fossil  re- 
mains, in  which  7«*/?2a?iZ>owe5  have  been  very  frequently  found, 
is  an  immense  congeries,  displayed  in  a  hill  called  Cueha  Hu- 
bia,  (or  red  cave,)  near  the  village  of  Concud,  in  the  province 
of  Arragon,  in  Spain.  This  hill  takes  its  name  from  a  kind 
of  red  diluvial  earth,  which  has  been  intersected  and  laid  open 
by  the  waters  of  a  mountain  stream.  Some  of  the  bones  con- 
tained in  it  are  of  the  nature  of  common  church-yard  bones; 
some  are  solid,  and  well  preserved  ;  others  seem  pulverized, 
and  fall  to  pieces  on  exposure  to  the  atmosphere.  They  be- 
long to  a  great  variety  of  animals,  and  lie  confusedly  huddled 
together,  or,  as  the  French  term  it,  pele-mele.  Seven  or  eight 
human  shin  bones  are  frequently  seen  in  one  spot,  without 
any  other  parts  of  the  body.  There  are  many  articulations  of 
the  larger  bones  of  animals  mingled  with  them;  and  they  are 
often  filled  with  a  crystalline  substance.  Don  Guillermo 
Bowles  relates,  that  he  was  informed  of  an  entire  human 
skeleton  that  had  been  there  discovered  :  the  thickness  of  this 
diluvial  mass  is  described  as  being  upwards  of  GO  feet.  We 
have,  in  this  remarkable  instance,  a  complete  identity  of  cha- 
racter and  circumstances,  with  numerous  other  fossil  depo- 
sits, which  are  of  unquestioned  diluvial  origin  :  but,  as  is 
usual,  wherever  human  bones  have  been  found  intermingled,  it 


GEOLOGY  OF  SCRIPTURE.  235 

has  been  the  custom  with  geologists,  in  their  remarks  on  tiiis 
mass,  to  attribute  the  whole  to  some  comparatively  recent 
cause.  A  candid  and  unprejudiced  judgment  of  the  facts  can- 
not, however,  fail  to  lead  us  to  a  very  different  conclusion. 

Before  proceeding  to  make  any  remark  upon  the  similarity 
which  obviously  exists  between  the  cave  of  Durfort  with  its 
fossil  contents,  and  those  of  Kirkdale,  Gaylenreuth,  and  so 
many  others  in  all  countries,  now  so  well  known  to  geolo- 
gists, I  shall  proceed  to  the  details  of  the  only  other  instance, 
which  I  consider  it  necessary  for  my  present  purpose  to  pro- 
duce ;  and  should  any  doubt  have  still  been  felt  on  the  sub- 
ject of  human  fossils,  in  the  accounts  of  the  three  instances 
just  given,  I  imagine  that  the  following  statement  will  for 
ever  set  this  question  at  rest ;  for  it  has  long  been  admitted, 
on  all  hands,  that  any  one  unquestionable  instance  of  antedilu- 
vian human  remains  would  be  perfectly  sufficient  for  the  so- 
lution of  that  dark  mystery  which  has  so  long  obscured  this 
part  of  the  history  of  our  earth. 

The  following  account  is  written  by  the  Baron  Von  Schlo- 
theim,  and  was  published  at  Gotha,  in  1820.  It  was  trans- 
,  lated  from  the  German  by  Mr.  Weaver,  and  laid  before  the 
English  public  in  the  Annals  of  Philosophy  for  1823. 

"The  recent  discovery  of  human  bones,  as  well  as  those  of 
other  animals,  in  a  fossil  state,  in  the  neighbourhood  of  Kos- 
tritz,  cannot  fail  to  render  a  description  of  that  district  inter- 
esting to  naturalists  in  general.  I  had  an  opportunity  of 
examining  that  part  of  the  country  this  spring,  (1820,)  in 
company  with  M.  Braun,  Counsellor  to  the  Land  (Jhamber, 
a  gentleman  distinguished  for  his  exact  mineral  ogical  know- 
ledge. Its  geological  relations  are  so  well  exposed  in  the 
ranges  of  hills,  and  in  the  quarries  on  their  declivities,  that  no 
room  is  left  to  doubt  the  disposition  and  order  of  succession  of 
the  different  floetz  formations  which  appear  in  that  vicinity. 

"The  valley  of  the  Elster  extends  from  Kostritz  to  the 
north,  in  an  average  breadth  of  about  two  and  a  quarter  En- 
glish miles,  flanked  by  heights,  which  are  covered  with 
fertile  fields,  and  slightly  wooded.  These  eminences  form 
connecting  ranges  on  both  sides  of  the  Elster,  passing  Politz 
and  Kaschwitz ;  that  on  the  east,  near  Politz,  attaining  the 
greatest  elevation.  The  bottom  of  the  valley  itself  is  perfectly 
smooth,  refreshing  the  eye  with  its  verdant  meadqws,  diver- 
sified with  groups  of  trees. 

"  The  foundation  upon  which  the  floetz  formation  reposes, 


236  GEOLOGY  OF  SCRIPTURE. 

consists  of  transition  reddish  gray  clay-slate^  and  firm,  fine- 
grained graywacke.  The  former  rests  on  the  graywacke,  and 
is  immediately  covered  by  the  older  floetz  lime-stone,  which 
rests  upon  it  nearly  in  a  horizontal  position."  I  give  these 
details  as  they  are  found  in  Mr,  Weaver's  translation  of  the 
baron's  paper.  The  names  given  by  the  continental  geology 
to  the  various  upper  strata,  have  been  adopted  upon  the  usually 
received  principle  o^  the  position  of  each  formation  marking  its 
comparative  age.  We  have,  however,  found  the  strongest 
reason  to  do  away,  in  many  instances,  with  such  terms  as 
"  the  oldest  floetz  lime-stone,"  as  it  is  obvious,  both  in  this 
instance  of  Kostritz,  and  in  the  basin  of  Paris,  each  exhibiting 
proofs  in  the  solid  gypsum,  of  distinct  diluvial  formation,  that 
many  of  these  upper  strata,  and  every  instance  where  bones 
of  quadrupeds  are  found  embedded  in  the  solid  substance  of  the 
rock,  must  be  attributed  to  the  destructive  period  of  the  Mo- 
saic deluge,  and  cannot,  consistently,  be  considered  as  the 
formation  of  any  other  former  period. 

"  The  lowest  strata  are  sandy,  and  occasionally  somewhat 
bituminous.  In  the  upper  strata,  the  sand,  mica,  and  bitu- 
men, entirely  disappear,  and,  in  their  stead,  traces  of  yellow 
ochraceous  iroti-stone  become  visible. 

"  The  lime-stone,  just  described,  ranges  principally  on  the 
left  bank  of  the  Elster,  towards  Gera,  as  far  as  the  vicinity 
of  Hartzmansdorf ;  and  again,  on  the  right  bank,  near  Politz, 
where  it  is  well  displayed  in  several  quarries.  On  the  other 
hand,  the  gypsum,  which  is  embedded  in,  and  subordinate  to 
this  limestone,  occurs  at  the  foot  of  the  opposite  range,  on 
the  west,  near  Kostritz  and  Kaschwitz,  in  the  whole  of 
which  extent,  the  numerous  gypsum  quarries  afford  an  insight 
into  its  character.  The  depressions  and  sinkings  of  the 
earth,  which  occur  in  the  valley,  proclaim  that  we  have 
entered  upon  the  domain  of  the  cavernous  gypsum  and  lime- 
stone, the  latter  of  which  is,  as  usual,  covered  by  the  varie- 
gated or  new  red  sand-stone  formation,  which  appears  near 
Hartzmansdorf,  and  on  the  ridge  of  the  chain  of  heights 
near  Politz.  Over  the  whole  of  these  floetz  formations,  is 
spread  an  alluvial  loamy  tract,  which  is  sometimes  sandy, 
extending  many  miles,  and  yielding  to  the  landholder  a  rich 
return,  when  duly  cultivated." 

I  cannot  here  avoid  remarking  the  distinct  and  luminous 
character  of  the  above  description  of  the  Baron  Von  Schlot- 
heim ;  which  is  so  clear,  that,  without  having  visited  the 


GEOLOGY  OF  SCRIPTURE.  237 

spot,  one  can  distinctly  form  a  correct  idea  of  the  whole 
structure  of  that  country. 

It  appears,  that  in  no  other  situation  are  there  to  he  found 
more  convincing  proofs  of  diluvial  action  having  filled  up  a 
hollow,  or  basin,  in  the  bed  of  the  antediluvian  ocean ;  and 
the  principles  of  stratification,  which  have  been  before 
explained,  are  here  exhibited,  in  the  most  beautiful  manner, 
having  the  ^ner  deposits  lowest,  and  the  coarser  sands,  gravels, 
and  loams,  being  thickly  spread  upon  the  upper  surface;  the 
whole  mass,  where  pressure  has  taken  place,  having  been 
acted  upon  by  those  chemical  laws  of  nature,  the  origin  of 
which  must  for  ever  lie  concealed  from  our  view. 

After  the  above  concise  general  view  of  the  country,  M. 
von  Schlotheim  proceeds  to  give  a  nearer  description  of  the 
lime-stone  and  gypsum  formations,  with  a  detail  of  the  cir- 
cumstances under  which  the  bones  of  land  animals  are  now 
frequently  discovered  in  these  rocks. 

"  The  varieties  of  this  lime-stone  formation  have  obtained 
different  appellations  from  miners ;  amongst  which,  that  of 
zechstein  is  one  of  the  principal.  Near  Politz,  this  zechstein 
appears  particularly  to  prevail,  which  passes  into  the  cavern- 
ous lime-stone,  being  traversed  immediately  under  the  new 
red  sand-stone,  by  very  considerable  fissures,  and  cavities, 
which  often  extend  12  feet  in  breadth,  the  whole  of  which 
are  coated  with  stalactite,  while  the  smaller  fissures  are  fre- 
quently wholly  filled  with  that  substance.  In  the  vicinity 
of  Gera,  the  rock  appears  as  gi-yphite  lime-stone,  yielding  fine 
specimens  of  Gryphites  aculeatus,  and  G.  cymbium,  besides  in- 
distinct remains  of  other  shells  ;  on  the  other  hand,  in  the  Politz 
lime-stone,  I  have  not  observed  any  petrifactions  of  shells. 

"  At  the  latter  place,  the  upper  quarry,  situated  near  the 
middle  of  the  declivity,  is  particularly  instructive,  exhibiting 
wide  fissures  and  caverns,  entirely  filled  with  the  alluvial 
loam  that  covers  the  whole  country  to  a  great  extent.  Con- 
siderable masses  of  stalactite  appear  in  several  places  ;  and 
here,  principally,  were  found  those  bones  of  large  land  quad- 
rupeds now  in  my  collection.  They  were  met  with  at  the 
depth  of  20  feet,  embedded  in  the  loam  of  one  of  the  wider 
cavities."  (The  bones  here  found,  consist  of  those  of  the 
rhinoceros,  the  hare,  rabbit,  horse,  ox,  deer,  hyaena,  owi,  and 
other  birds,  and  of  the  lion,  or  tiger).  "All  these  bones 
are  more  or  less  changed,  and  penetrated  with  calcareous 
matter.  The  condition  of  the  greater  part  is  nearly  the 
V 


238  GEOLOGY  OF  SCRIPTURE. 

same  as  that  of  the  bones  found  at  Gaylenreuth,  Scharzfeld, 
&c. ;  and  hence,  it  seems  probable  that  they  are  of  an  equal 
age,  and  referable  to  the  same  epoch  of  the  ancient  world. 

"  Turning  now  our  attention  to  the  north-west  side  of  the 
Elster,  to  the  heights  above  Kaschwitz,  we  find  the  gypsum 
there  embedded  in  the  lime-stone^  and  appearing  in  the  declivi- 
ty. The  former  seems  to  have  been  laid  bare  by  the  destruc- 
tion of  the  superincumbent  lime-stone. 

"The  gypsum  seems  to  constitute,  in  this  neighbourhood, 
a  large  isolated  mass,  included  in  the  lime-stone.  As  far  as 
it  is  exposed  in  the  quarries,  which  have  no  where  penetrated 
deeper  than  30  or  40,  feet  from  the  surface,  it  is  composed  of 
so  firm  a  consistency  as  to  require  to  be  blasted  with  gun- 
powder. It  is  sometimes  striped,  in  the  ribbon  and  undu- 
lating manner,  and  alternating  with  slight  layers  of  clay." 

We  are  here  strongly  reminded  of  the  same  undulating 
and  alternating  character  and  appearance,  in  the  sections  of 
oar  own  chalk  coasts,  where  the  superincumbent  diluvial  gravel 
mixes  with  the  upper  surface  of  the  chalk,  clearly  denoting  the 
latter  to  have  been  soft  and  movable  on  the  surface ;  and  the 
two  masses  to  have  been  mixed  up  in  the  undulating  and 
contorted  form  of  marbled  paper  by  the  action  of  a  retiring 
and  shallow,  but  violently  ruffled  sea. 

"The  entire  gypseous  mass  is  intersected,  and  perforated 
by  fissures  and  cavities,  which  follow  every  direction,  and  are 
connected  with  each  other  by  serpentine  channels  of  larger  or 
smaller  dimensions.  They  are  filled  throughout  with  the 
alluvial  (diluvial)  deposits,  even  to  the  greatest  depth ;  and 
this  loamy  sediment  appears  horizontally  disposed,  for  short 
distances,  yielding  in  clusters,  as  it  were,  and  in  precisely 
the  same  circumstances,  a  number  of  bones  of  land  animals, 
amongst  which  are  disclosed  to  observation mIso  human  bones. 

"  Even  from  the  first  opening  of  the  quarries,  30  years  ago, 
the  bones  of  man,  and  other  animals,  have  there  been  met  with. 
According  to  the  unanimous  relation  of  the  workmen,  the 
former  have  usually  been  found  at  a  depth  o^  from  16  to  30 
feet  from  the  surface,  and  this  has  happened  in  almost  every 
quarry  that  has  hitherto  been  opened  in  the  gypsum.  The 
cases  are  rare  in  which  human  bones,  and  those  of  other  ani- 
mals, have  appeared  singly  near  the  surface  of  the  gypsum, 
and  adjacent  to  the  vegetable  soil.  These  have  undergone  a 
much  greater  change ;  they  are  more  penetrated  with  calca- 
reous matter,  and  are  heavier  than  the  bones  met  with  at  a 


GEOLOGY  OF  SCRIPTURE.  •  239 

greater  depth.  Our  own  experience  confirmed  the  affirmation 
of  the  workmen,  that  various  bones  are  always  found  to- 
gether, assembled  in  a  heap,  as  it  were,  in  the  loamy  deposit." 

Whc^  a  complete  picture  is  here  presented  to  us  of  the 
effects  o^  ike  tide  on  movable  animal  remains,  by  which  a  spe- 
cies of  regular  derangement,  if  I  may  use  the  term,  is,  at  all 
times,  exhibited  on  our  coasts,  though  on-a  scale  so  small  as 
merely  to  suffice  as  an  indication  of  what  would  happen  under 
such  circumstances  as  must  naturally  have  presented  them- 
selves on  the  sinking  of  the  diluvial  waters!* 

"On  visiting  Cornmann's  gypsum  quarry,  we  (iiscovered, 
in  a  nearly  vertical  fissure,  at  the  depth  of  16  or  18  feet  from 
the  surface,  a  number  of  bones,  belonging  to  quadrupeds  and 
birds,  firmly  embedded  in  the  loam;  though,  in  a  disjointed 
state  they  appeared  referable  to  skeletons  that  were  formerly 
more  or  less  complete.  The  idea  has  been  advanced,  that 
the  bones  of  the  smaller  animals  might  have  been  brought 
there  by  owls,  foxes,  or  other  animals  of  prey ;  being,  hov/- 
ever,  found  in  cavities,  but  invariably  enveloped  in  loam,  under 
the  same  circumstances  as  the  other  bones,  this  supposition 
seems  invalid,  and  it  is  besides  contradicted  by  the  appear- 
ance of  the  bones  themselves. 

"  It  is  also  evident  that  the  human  bones  could  never  have 
been  buried  here,  nor  have  fallen  into  the  fissures  in  the 
gypsum  during  battles  in  ancient  tim.es ;  nor  have  been  thus 

*  It  is  on  the  same  small  scale,  but  abundantly  sufficiently  for  our 
purpose,  that  we  are  taught,  on  our  present  sea  shores,  the  great  and 
important  principle  on  which  stratification,  at  all  times,  takes  place. 
On  examining  minutely  a  portion  of  fine  sea-sand,  fresh  from  the 
shore,  we  find  it  composed  of  a  raixtme  of  various  crystallized  par- 
ticles, probably  the  eifects  of  the  decomposition  of  primitive  rocks. 
But  amongst  these  crystaip,  Ave  genei-ally  find  a  variety  of  small 
black  grains  ;  and,  on  inspection,  these  black  bodies  are  often  found 
to  be  portions  of  vegetable  matter,  probably  decayed  sea-Aveed,  in  a 
very  reduced  state.  Now,  these  two  descriptions  of  matter  have  a 
very  different  degree  of  specific  gi-avity ;  and  when  both  are  sub- 
mitted to  the  action  of  the  waves,  they  are  consequently  disposed  of 
in  a  different  manner.  We  have  frequent  opportunities  of  seeing 
the  two  disposed,  in  regular  strata,  of  the  most  minute  and  beautiful 
form,  in  the  heaps  of  sand  left  by  the  tide  after  a  gale,  about  the 
very  limits  of  high  water  mark.  Those  heaps,  when  dry,  crumble,^ 
or  fall  to  pieces  ;  and  in  the  miniature  cliffs,  presenting  a  section  of 
the  Avhole  heap,  we  there  find  exactly  the  same  beautiful  stratifica- 
tion, that  is  so  often  exhibited  in  tlie  free-stone  quarries  of  our  upper 
strata. 


240  *  GEOLOGY  OF  SCRIPTURE. 

mutilated,  and  lodged  by  any  other  accidental  cause  in  more 
modern  times ;  inasmuch  as  they  are  always  found  with  the 
other  animal  remains  under  the  same  relations,  not  consti- 
tuting connected  skeletons,  but  collected  in  various  groups  in 
the  deposits  of  loam  that  occupy  the  fissures  and  cavities  of 
the  gypsum:  they  appear,  therefore,  to  have  been  strictly 
fossil,  and  to  have  been  swept  hither  by  floods,  with  the  other 
animal  remains,  at  the  period  of  the  formation  of  the  alluvial 
(diluvial)  tract  itself.  It  has  already  been  remarked  by  Cu- 
vier,  (in  his  Recherches,  &c.  vol.  i.  p.  66,)  that  the  epoch  of 
A  great  deluge,  by  which  many  animals  were  destroyed,  whose 
remains  are  now  found  i?i  alluvial  tracts  alone,  and  not  in 
any  strata  of  an  earlier  era,  nearly  coincides  with  our  chro- 
nology; and  the  traditions  of  such  a  deluge,  preserved  among 
all  nations,  now  appears  further  confirmed  by  the  instructive 
documents  at  present  lying  before  us." 

The  following  are  the  human  bones  hitherto  found,  (that 
is,  up  to  1820,)  in  these  gypsum  quarries  near  Kostritz,  and 
which  were  almost  all  then  in  the  collection  of  the  Baron 
Von  Schlotheim. 

"  A  perfectly  preserved  human  forehead,  extending  to  one 
half  the  orbits  of  the  eyes.*  The  upper  maxillae,  with  the 
teeth,  mostly  all  preserved  ;  the  left  humerus ;  the  right  and  left 
ossa  femoris.  The  right  thigh-bone  is  in  a  more  altered  state 
than  any  of  the  other  bones,  being  found,  according  to  the 
statement  of  the  workmen,  near  the  out-crop  of  the  fissure. 
Besides  these,  some  other  fragments  of  human  bones  are  con- 
tained in  collections  in  Gera,  and  in  that  of  the  Natural  His- 
tory Society  at  Altenburg.  All  these  bones  are  of  a  rather 
large,  but,  by  no  means,  unu^sual  size,  and  certainly  not  gi- 
gantic, as  stated  by  loose  report.'^ 

« 

*  There  is,  in  the  description  of  this  fossil,  a  singular  coincidence 
between  it  and  one  of  the  same  chai-acter  now  in  my  possession, 
which  was  found  by  Captain  Martin,  in  the  Rock  of  Gibraltar.  It 
was  accompanied  with  naasses  of  other  bones,  embedded  in  the  bre- 
cia,  common  to  that  place.  One  of  these  bones  has  since  been 
recognized  by  Mr,  Clift  as  that  of  a  ruminating  animal  ,•  and  I  have 
ascertained  by  comparison,  that  it  is  the  lower  part  of  the  shin-bone 
of  an  ox.  This  discovery  had  thrown  a  shade  of  doubt  upon  the 
impression  of  the  human  forehead,  discovered  along  with  it.  But  I 
now  have  no  sort  of  doubt  of  its  being  the  actual  impression  of  part  of 
an  antediluvian  human  being.  The  forehead  is  well  defined,  and 
the  half  of  the  orbits  of  the  eyes  so  distinct,  as  perfectly  to  corres- 
pond with  an  ancient  (tliough,  comparatively,  recent)  head  of  a 
mummy  also  in  my  possession. 


GEOLOCIY  O?  SCRIPTURE.  241 

The  baron  then  proceeds  to  give  a  detail  of  the  various 
other  bones  of  animals  found  in  the  same  situation;  and,  in  a 
subsequent  work,  also  translated,  he  observes,  that  "some 
of  the  bones  have  lost  their  animal  gluten,  and  are  even  pene- 
trated vi^ith  gypsum,*  while  others  are  only  slightly  calcined 
and  decomposed.  This  varying  condition  of  the  bones  is 
likewise  observed  in  all  the  other  fossil  bones  of  Kostritz. 
Of  the  animal  remains  generally  admitted  to  have  belonged 
to  the  inhabitants  of  the  ancient  world,  the  most  numerous 
met  with  are  those  of  the  rhinoceros,  although,  upon  the 
whole,  they  are  of  rare  occurrence.  Of  the  mastodon,  or 
other  gigantic  animals,  no  remains  have  hitherto  been  found 
in  that  vicinity." 

Amongst  the  other  details  of  the  fossil  bones  aboveraen- 
tioned,  two  perfect  phalanges  of  the  rhinoceros  are  described, 
found  at  the  depth  of  \Q  feet  from  the  swfuce.  "  These  pieces," 
says  the  baron,  "  are  particularly  deserving  of  notice,  as 
heneath  them^  at  the  depth  of  eight  feet  farther,  were  found 
fragments  of  the  thigh  and  arm-bone  of  the  human  race.'''* 

"  From  the  whole  of  the  facts  now  detailed,  therefore," 
concludes  he,  "  it  is  quite  evident^  that  in  the  cavities  near 
Kostritz,  HUMAN  BONES  are  found  intermingled,  without  order, 
with  the  bones  of  animals  of  the  ancient  world.^^ 

"Such,  bones,  and  skeletons,  have  also  been  found  in  other 
places,  within  the  tract  of  the  alluvial  (diluvial)  formations, 
in  the  vicinity  of  the  repositories  of  large  land  animals 
of  the  ancient  world,  but  which  have  not  yet  received  that 
attention  which  they  so  well  deserve." 

It  is  not  my  purpose,  in  this  place,  to  enter  into,  or  to  at- 
tempt to  confute  the  extraordinary  argum.ents  advanced  by 
the  baron  himself,  in  the  first  instance,  and,  subsequently,  by 
his  translator,  Mr.  Weaver,  for  the  purpose  of  bending  these 
"stubborn  facts"  to  suit  the  prevailing  theories  of  the  great 
geologists  of  that  day.  It  ought  fully  to  suffice  for  the  pur- 
poses I  have  now  in  view,  to  have  laid  the  facts  themselves 
before  the  unbiassed  judgment  of  my  readers;  and  it  must, 
I  presume,  be  self-evident  to  every  one  whose  mind  is  not 
warped  by  prejudice,  or  fully  occupied  by  previous  theory, 
that  if  the  bones  from  the  Hymalaya  glaciers,  ^//ec?  with  the 

*  These  gypseous  bones  are  in  exactly  the  same  state  as  those  now 
in  tlie  museum  of  the  College  of  Sux-geons,  which  fell  from  the  re- 
gions of  perpetual  snoiv,  on  the  tops  of  the  Hymalaya  range,  and 
which  have  already  been  described. 

V  2 


242  GEOLOGY  OF  SCRIPTURE. 

purest  gypsum^  and  belonging  to  the  Jiorse  and  deer  tribe  of 
the  present  existing  species,  are  to  be  looked  upon  as  true 
antediluvian  fossils ;  and  if  the  bones,  found  in  the  basins  of 
Paris,  in  the  very  same  substance,  are  also  to  be  looked  upon 
in  the  same  light ;  we  cannot  have  the  smallest  hesitation 
upon  the  character  of  the  diluvial  deposits,  containing  mingled 
human  and  rhinoceros  hones,  the  account  of  which  we  have 
just  perused.  I  cannot,  however,  suffer  these  details  to  go 
before  my  readers,  without  presenting  them,  at  the  same  time, 
with  the  opinion  respecting  them,  of  the  great  asserter  of  the 
truth  of  the  Mosaic  deluge.  \  imagine,  that  it  will  scarcely 
be  credited,  without  a  reference  to  one  of  the  most  popular 
works  of  that  very  talented  writer,  into  what  difficulties  and 
contradictions  even  the  most  philosophic  minds  are  led,  in 
the  attempt  to  reconcile  error  with  truth. 

"  In  one  quarry,"  says  the  author  of  Reliquiae  Diluvianae, 
"  the  human  bones  were  found  eight  feet  below  those  of  the 
rhinoceros,  and  twenty-six  below  the  surface.  It  is  highly 
probable,  from  the  admixture  of  the  bones  of  so  many  species 
oi  recent  z.mxd'dXs,.*  with  the  human  remains  in  the  gypsum 
quarries,  that  both  these  are  of  later  origin  than  those  in  the 
lime-stone  ;  they  appear,  I  think,  to  have  been  introduced,  at 
a  subsequent  period,  into  the  diluvial  loam,  which  had  before 
contained  the  more  ancient  bones  and  pebbles ;  but  by  what 
means,  or  at  what  precise  joertW  of  the  post-diluvian  era,  re- 
mains," (and  ever  must  remain,)  "yet  to  be  ascertained." — 
Reliq.  Biluv.  p.  168. 

We  here  find  this  distinct  and  unequivocal  instance  of 
human  fossil  remains,  (such  as  has  been  admitted  to  be  alone 
wanting  for  the  corroboration  of  the  Scripture  narrative  of  the 
deluge,)  completely  neutralized,  by  what  Dr.  Buckland  calls 
a  high  probability ,  though  he  gives  us  not  the  slightest  reason 
for  the  grounds  of  his  scepticism.  And  yet  we  cannot  but 
be  forcibly  struck  with  the  hesitation  and  doubt  with  which 
the  thoughts  of  the  learned  professor,  respecting  this  fossil 

*  Does  the  learned  pi'ofessor  mean  to  imply,  by  recent  animals, 
that  birds,  of  the  species  of  the  cock,  (the  bones  and  spur  of  one  of 
which  were  found  at  Kostritz,)  the  hare,  the  rabbit,  or  the  owl,  wez*e 
all  creations  subsequent  to  the  flood  ?  Or  to  deny,  that  such  animals 
could  have,  by  possibility,  existed  contemporaneously,  with  the 
elephant,  the  rhinoceros,  die  horse,  or  the  hysena,  as  they  do  in  the 
present  day,  though  in  the  climates  and  latitudes  best  fitted  to  each 
species  respectively  ? 


GEOLOGY  OF  SCRIPTURE.  243 

deposit,  are  expressed.  The  above  passage  is  not  written  in 
that  style  of  decided  conviction  in  which  he  so  beautifully 
expresses  himself,  when  his  geological  views,  however  erro- 
neous, are  completely  satisfactory  to  his  own  mind.  We 
find  no  such  hesitation  with  respect  to  the  hyaenas  of  Kirk- 
dale,  although  their  remains  were  also  accompanied  by  such 
RECENT  animals  as  the  fox ^  the  weasel^  the  horse,  the  fallow  deer, 
the  ox,  the  hare,  the  rabbit,  the  mouse,  and  the  water  rat.* 

The  remains  of  ail  these  animals,  and  of  many  more,  that 
might,  with  equal  reason,  be  termed  recent,  were  found  at 
Kirkdale,  and  in  other  diluvial  deposits,  accompanied  by 
those  of  elephants,  lions,  rhinoceri,  &c.,  about  vjhich  no 
doubt  has  ever  been  expressed:  and  yet,  in  the  instance  of 
Kostritz,  the  rhinoceros  is  to  be  looked  upon  as  ancient  and 
antediluvian,  while  the  hare,  the  rabbit,  the  owl,  the  cock,  and 
the  man,  are  all  to  be  considered  post-diluvian ;  although,  it 
"yet  remains  to  be  ascertained,  by  what  means,  or  at  what 
period,"  the  remains  of  the  two  eras  became  mixed  up  together. 

I  have  but  one  remark  further  to  make  upon  the  opinions 
professed,  and  the  geological  doctrines  taught  by  the  able 
author  I  have  just  quoted  ;  and  I  do  so,  with  a  repetition  of 
my  former  sincere  profession  of  my  highest  respect  for  him 
as  a  public  character,  though  I  totally  differ  with  him  in  the 
whole  view  he  has  taken  of  the  Mosaic  deluge.  But  I  can, 
by  no  means,  perceive  the  principle  upon  which  he  is  so 
constantly  and  strenuously  opposed  to  the  occupation  of 
some  parts  of  the  antediluvian  world  by  the  human  race :  for 
the  disbelief,  even  in  the  probability  of  their  remains  ever 
being  found, f  amounts,  in  fact,  to  at  least  a  doubt  of  their 
having  existed  at  the  same  time  as  the  animals,  whose  bones 
he  admits  to  have  belonged  to  that  ancient  period. 

If  they  then  existed,  they  must  have  perished  with  the 
other  animals  by  the  waters;  if  they  perished,  their  bodies 
must  have  floated,  and  been  submitted  to  the  very  same  laws 
of  tides  and  of  currents,  by  which  other  animal  bodies  were 
scattered  and  dispersed  over  the  bed  of  the  sea,  in  every  di- 
rection. 

If  they  were  so  scattered  and  mixed  "up,  (and  it  could  not 
possibly  be  otherwise,)  we  can  imagine  no  reason,  why  we 
should  not  find  them,  as  we  do  other  diluvial  remains,  only 
in  that  small  numerical  proportion,  which,  we  are  assured, 

*  Reliq.  Diluv.  p.  17,  18.  +  Reliq.  Diluv.  p.  169,  170. 


244  GEOLOGY  OF  SCRIPTTJRE. 

they  must  have  borne,  if  the  history  of  Scripture  is  to  be 
depended  upon.  That  we  may  place  implicit  confidence  in 
the  information  conveyed  to  us  from  this  Inspired  source, 
we  have  found  many  convincing  proofs  in  the  whole  course 
of  this  general  treatise  ;  and  we  can,  therefore,  have  no  con- 
ceivable plea,  short  of  a  distinct  desire  to  prove  it  wrong,, 
for  strenuously  opposing  the  evidence  of  numerous  facts,  on 
the  subject  of  the  fossil  remains  of  our  own  species. 

It  may,  perhaps,  here  be  expected,  that  some  consistent 
and  natural  mode  should  be  shown  of  the  origin  and  cause 
of  these  remarkable  caves  and  fissures,  which,  in  so  many 
instances,  characterize  the  lime-stone  formations,  and  inter- 
sect them  in  every  direction.  I  should  be  sorry  to  involve 
either  my  readers,  or  myself,  in  the  difliculties  which  this 
part  of  the  subject  might  very  possibly  lead  to.  It  has, 
hitherto,  been  too  much  the  custom  for  science  to  endeavour, 
hy  some  means  or  other,  to  account  for  every  individual  phe- 
nomenon presented  to  the  view  on  the  surface  of  the  earth. 
By  such  injudicious  attempts,  many  able  men  have  led  them- 
selves into  contradictions,  beyond  which  they  could  not 
advance,  and  from  which  it  was  difficult  to  retrograde  ;  and 
it  is  to  be  feared,  that  many  of  the  errors  of  our  geological 
theories  have  arisen  from  this  mistaken  course.  Upon  this 
subject  of  cavernous  lim.e-stone,  therefore,  I  do  not  hazard 
more  than  a  passing  opinion,  confining  myself  to  the  facts 
which  all  such  cavities  invariably  exhibit,  and  leaving  this 
branch  of  the  subject  open  to  the  more  extended  researches 
of  future  observations. 

If  it  be  true,  as  the  Inspired  Writings  inform  us,  and  as 
every  appearance  on  the  face  of  the  present  dry  lands  corro- 
borates, that  the  "  earili  that  now  is,"  is  ditlerent  from  the 
"  earth  that  then  was  ;"  and  if  my  idea  of  the  probable 
means  by  which  the  deluge  was  effected,  is  founded  in 
reason,  viz.  tliat  either  the  former  dry  lands  sunk,  or  that  the 
bed  of  the  former  sea  ivas  elevated,  (in  either  of  which  cases 
the  effects  would  be  the  same;)  if  these  premises  be  "^ell 
founded,  it  must  naturally  follow,  that  the  lands  we  now 
inhabit,  formed,  before  the  deluge,  the  bed  of  the  ancient 
ocean.  If  this  be  true,  and  that  many  of  the  secondary 
calcareous  formations,  which  now  almost  every  where  cover 
the  surface  of  the  continents,  were  the  result  of  gradual 
marine  deposits,  embedding  sea  shells  in  vast  abundance,  hut 
no  where  containing  remains  of  quadrupeds,  or  other  land 


GEOLOGY  OF  SCRIPTURE.  245 

PRODUCTIONS,  we  Hiust  conclude,  that  on  the  subsiding  of  the 
ocean,  (or,  as  we  term  it,  the  diluvial  waters^)  into  its  new 
bed,  the  lands  that  were  then,  for  the  first  time,  left  above 
the  level  of  the  sea,  must  have  been  in  a  soft  and  saturated 
state,  and  containing-  abundance  of  that  marine  fluidity,  in 
the  midst  of  which  they  had  gradually  been  formed.  We 
have  already  found,  in  the  instance  of  that  most  extensive 
formation,  the  chalky  containing,  as  it  every  where  does,  posi- 
tive and  invariable  marks  of  marine  origin^  without  any  indi- 
cation of  a  single  land  production,  that  upon  its  moist  and 
still  movable  surface,  the  retiring  waves  had  produced  a 
partial  mixture  between  it  and  the  diluvial  gravels  and  soils, 
containing  the  remains  of  elephants,  and  other  quadrupeds, 
besides  vegetable  substances  in  great  abundance,  (as  on  the 
coasts  of  Kent  and  Norfolk).  Had  it  been  the  nature  of 
chalk  to  crack  and  divide  itself  into  such  cavities  and  fissures, 
as  we  find  in  some  other  calcareous  deposits,  it  is  very  cer- 
tain that  we  should  have  found  these  cavities  furnished, 
more  or  less,  with  those  gravels,  or  loams,  containing  the 
remains  of  organic  bodies.  This  is  not  frequently  the  case 
in  the  chalk,  because  it  is  not  part  of  the  nature  of  this 
formation  to  be  cavous  ;  but  we  have,  even  in  the  chalk,  cer- 
tain cavities  also  filled  with  diluvlk^~g^avel,  of  the  origin 
of  which  it  would  be  very  difficult  to  give  even  a  plausible 
conjecture.  I  allude  to  those  well-like  cavities  so  often 
seen  in  the  chalk  pits  near  London,  and  also  frequently 
found  in  the  sections  of  the  French  and  English  sea  coasts.* 
We  have,  also,  in  the  chalk  an  insuperable  difficulty,  in 
accounting  for  the  regular  cavities  in  which  flint  nodules 

*  These  remarkable  cavities,  in  the  form  of  regular  wells,  of 
various  depths,  and,  occasionally,  of  irregular  forms,  are  exhibited 
in  a  remarkable  manner  in  the  chalk  pits  at  Greenhithe,  on  the 
south  bank  of  the  Thames,  between  Dartford  and  Gravesend. 
There  is,  indeed,  nothing  more  interesting,  or  instructive,  in  the 
geology  of  England,  than  the  obviously  diluvial  origin  of  the  super- 
incumbent strata,  upon  the  chalk,  every  where  near  London,  where 
the  wants  of  man,  and  the  laws  of  nature,  have,  in  so  many  places, 
combined  to  lay  the  whole  formations  completely  open  to  our  in- 
spection. The  almost  invariably  horizontal  surface  of  the  chalk, 
with  the  very  marked  irregularity  of  the  new  diluvial  surface  in  the 
neighbourhood  of  Greenwich,  Woolwich,  Shooter's  Hill,  and  all 
over  tliat  part  of  Kent,  as  well  as  on  the  northern  shores  of  the 
Thames,  must  serve  to  explain  this  branch  of  our  subject  in  the 
clearest  and  most  obvious  manner. 


246  '  GEOLOGY  OF  SCRIPTURE. 

have  subsequently  been  formed.  I  say  suhsequently^  because 
this  fact  is  demonstrably  certain,  from  the  fossil  shells,  of  the 
chalk  formation,  often  embedded  in  the  Jiints^  as  in  the  purest 
water.* 

If  we  find  ourselves  in  difficulty,  with  respect  to  these  mi- 
nor cavities,  lohich  must  have  occurred  under  the  level  of  the  sea, 
much  more  shall  we  despair  of  plausibly  accounting  for  the 
more  extensive  and  even  stupendous  grottoes  peculiar  to  other 
marine  deposits,  as  palpably  having  formed  a  part  of  the  bed 
of  the  antediluvian  ocean.  One  thing,  however,  is  a  well 
established  fact,  that  there  is  an  intimate  and  constant  con- 
nection between  the  latest  sediments  of  the  waters  of  the  de- 
luge, with  their  animal  and  vegetable  contents,  and  these 
upper  calcareous  formations.  In  the  instance  of  the  gypsum 
of  the  basin  of  Paris,  the  organic  remains  are  not  contained 
in  cavities,  but  are  completely  incorporated  in  the  body  of  a 
rock,  so  hard  as  to  require  to  be  blasted  with  gunpowder. 
Here  is  a  positive  proof  that  gypsum  is  a  chemical  deposit  or 
formation,  which  was  once  in  ^Jluid  state ;  and  we  can  have 
no  hesitation  with  respect  to  the  period  at  which  this  fluidity 
existed,  illustrated,  as  the  point  is,  by  the  identity  of  some  of 
its  fossils,  with  those  of  the  superincumbent  diluvial  soils. 
If,  therefore,  gypsum  was  ■a.Jluid,  at  the  period  of  the  deluge, 
in  the  basin  of  Paris  we  have  the  strongest  reasons  for  coming 
to  a  similar  conclusion,  wherever  that  calcareous  rock  is 
found  to  exist.  At  Kostritz,  the  gypsum  is  split  into  fissures, 
often  filled,  as  they  naturally  would  be,  with  the  superincum- 
bent gravel  under  which  it  is  found.  But  the  animal  remains 
are  of  the  very  same  description  in  the  gypsum  at  both  places, 

*  I  have  formerly  had  occasion  to  make  some  remai^ks  upon  the 
fossil  shells  of  the  chalk  formation,  often  found  attached  to,  or  filled 
by,  pure  flint.  I  have  lately  seen  one  of  these  fossil  specimens, 
Avhicli  has  been  cut  through,  and  polished  by  a  lapidary.  The 
polish  given  to  the  flint  is  of  the  finest  kind ;  and  in  looking  into  the 
transparent  mass,  Ave  find  many  of  the  small  spines,  with  which  the 
shell  was  originally  covered  on  its  exterior  surface,  perfectly  pre- 
served, and  lying  in  various  directions,  as  if  preserved  in  ice.  No 
proof  can  be  more  distinct,  that  the  flint  was  once  in  the  state  of  a  per- 
fect fluid  ;  and  that  this  fluid  state  v/as  subsequent  to  the  deposit  of 
the  chalky  mass,  may  be  looked  upon  as  equally  certaiy.  The  cause 
of  the  irregular,  though  stratified  cavities,  in  which  flhit  nodules 
have  been  subsequently  formed,  must  ever  remain,  however,  a  matter 
of  conjecture  ;  although,  the  obscurity  of  tlie  cause  does  not,  in  any 
degree,  affect  the  truth  of  the  facts  presented  to  our  contemplation. 


GEOLOGY  OF  SCRIPTURE.  247 

and  the  bones  are  in  the  same  state  of  decay  or  preservation. 
We,  therefore,  have  a  right  to  conclude,  that  as  the  Paris 
gypsum  was  a  diluvial  formation,  the  bones,  contained  in  it, 
could  be  no  other  than  those  of  antediluvian  animals.  We 
must  judge  of  the  Kostritz  gypsum  by  the  very  same  law ; 
there  can,  therefore,  be  no  hesitation  in  considering  the  hu- 
man hones  of  those  quarries,  as  well  as  those  of  the  domestic 
cock,  and  the  rhinoceros  which  accompany  them,  as  indisputa- 
ble remains  of  the  ancient  world.  The  nature  of  all  lime-stone 
cavities  appears  to  be  nearly  the  same  in  all  countries.  W"e 
hear  of  the  bones  of  elephants  in  New  Holland,^  as  well  as  in 
America,  and  in  Europe,  contained  in  similar  caverns ;  and  as 
we  know  of  no  other  calamity  so  destructive  as  the  Mosaic 
deluge,  either  from  history,  tradition,  or  animal  remains,  we 
must  conclude  that  every  land  production,  (together  with  such 
marine  shells  as  often  accompany  them,)  when  found  in  our 
rocks  and  soils,  is  attributable  to  the  action  of  the  Mosaic  de- 
luge, and  to  that  period  alone. 

*  Specimens  of  fossil  bones  and  wood  were  sent  home  by  Mr. 
Crawford  from  the  district  of  Ava,  in  latitude  21  degrees  north. 
Amongst  these  bones  were  found  those  of  two  new  species  of  the 
mastodon,  together  with  the  bones  of  the  hippopotamus,  rhinoceros, 
antelope,  deer,  the  ox,  the  hog,  the  tortoise,  and  the  alligator. 

From  the  instances,  few  as  they  are,  with  which  we  are  already  ac- 
quainted, of  such  fossil  deposits,  in  tropical,  as  well  as  in  temperate 
and  polar  regions,  we  can  have  no  doubt  of  the  general  and  indis- 
criminate dispersion  of  animal  bodies  over  every  region  of  the  earth  ; 
and  that  if  the  wants  of  man,  in  Asia,  and  in  Africa,  required  such 
extensive  operations  under  the  surface  of  the  ground,  as  have  brought 
to  light  so  many  fossil  ti-easures  in  Europe,  and  in  America,  we 
should  often  there  discover  the  remains  of  animals  as  unnatural  to 
hot  climates,  as  the  elephant  and  alligator  ai-e  to  cold  ones. 


CHAPTER  XIV. 

On  the  Situation  of  Paradise ,'  together  with  both  Critical  and 
Geological  Evidences  of  the  spurious  Character  of  that  de- 
scriptive account  of  it,  found  in  all  Modern  Copies  and 
Translations  of  the  Book  of  Genesis. 

As  the  chief  object  of  this  treatise  has  been  to  show, 
from  the  evidence  of  history,  corroborated  by  physical  facts, 
that  the  greater  part  of  the  present  dry  lands  of  the  earth 
formed  the  bed  of  the  antediluvian  sea,  and  that  the  former 
lands  were  utterly  destroyed  at  the. period  of  the  deluge, 
*'  the  earth,  that  now  is,"*"*  being  thus  distinct  from  "  the  earth, 
that  then  was,''''*  a  question  respecting  the  situation  of  the 
Paradise  in  which  our  first  parents  were  placed  by  their 
Creator,  has  probably  arisen  in  the  mind  of  every  one ;  and 
but  for  the  interruption  to  the  general  course  of  the  subject 
which  this  question  must  have  given  rise  to,  it  should  un- 
doubtedly have  been  considered  at  an  earlier  period  of  this 
work ;  as  there  is,  perhaps,  no  part  of  the  Old  Testament,  as 
found  in  our  translations,  which  has  been  so  fruitful  a  source 
of  error  and  misconception,  as  the  descriptive  account  of  the 
rivers  of  Paradise.  These  rivers  are  described  as  being  four 
in  number,  of  which  the  only  one  at  present  known  is  the 
Euphrates.  The  names  of  the  other  rivers,  and  the  extra- 
ordinary and  inconsistent  geographical  account  of  their  sup- 
posed courses,  have  long  been  a  source  of  anxious  critical 
inquiry,  as  well  as  of  local  research :  for  almost  all  travellers 
who  have  visited  the  East,  and  had  an  opportunity  of  becom- 
ing acquainted  with   the   course   of   the  Euphrates,   have 

*  2d  Epistle  of  Peter,  iii.  6. 


GEOLOGY  OF  SCRIPTURE.  249 

anxiously  sought  for  the  situation  of  Paradise ;  and  have, 
invariably,  been  obliged  to  relinquish  the  subject,  from  the 
utter  impossibility  of  applying  the  description,  in  the  slight- 
est degree,  to  any  part  of  the  course  of  that  noble  river. 

Mr.  Granville  Penn,  in  his  "  Comparative  Estimate  of  the 
Mineral  and  Mosaical  Geologies,"  has  entered,  at  consider- 
able length,  and  with  his  usual  ability,  into  a  critical 
examination  of  this  subject ;  and  has  most  clearly  show^n 
the  high  probnbiUty,,  amounting  almost  to  certainty,  of  the 
descriptive  part  of  the  Garden  of  Eden,  as  found  in  all  modern 
translations  of  the  original  text,  having  been  originally 
annexed,  as  an  explanatory  note,  to  the-  margin  of  an  early 
i^f-y.  and  having  been,  subsequently,  mcox^ox^Xedi.  into  the  body 
of  the  work,  by  the  ignorance  of  a  subsequent  transcriber,  as 
has  also  occurred  in  some  other  parts  of  the  Sacred  Writings. 
In  support  of  this  opinion,  he  shows,  on  the  authority  of 
the  most  learned  critics,  both  ancient  and  modern,  that  copies 
of  the  Hebrew  Scriptures  formerly  existed,  which  exhibited 
variations,  arising  from  marginal  glosses  and  insertions, 
originally  designed  as  illustrations  of  the  text,  but  which 
illustrative  glosses  had.  become,  in  some  instances,  incor- 
porated into  the  text  in  subsequent  copies. 

One  remarkable  example,  given  by  this  able  writer,  of  an 
incorporated  gloss  in  the  New  Testament,  and  which  is  not  so 
generally  known  as  it  deserves  to  be,  is  w^ell  adapted  to 
show  the  nature  of  similar  incorporations,  and  of  the  serious 
mischief  to  which  they  invariably  lead ;  for  truth  is,  in  all 
instances,  so  consistent  and  simple,  that  any  deviation  from 
the  plain  tenor  of  its  course,  must,  generally,  excite  observa- 
tion, as  the  following  remarkable  instance  has  frequently 
done.  This  example  is  found  in  the  remnant  of  a  very 
ancient  Greek  MS.  of  the  New  Testament,  in  the  Royal 
Library  at  Paris,  entitled  the  Codex  Ephremi,  which  has  been 
pronounced,  by  Wetstein,  to  be  of  the  same  date  as  the 
celebrated  Alexandrian  MS.  In  this  work,  the  first  five 
verses  of  the  5th  chapter  of  St.  John's  Gospel  are  thus  read  : 

*  For  an  angel  After  this,  there  was  a  feast  of  the 
wentdownatacer-  Jews,  and  Jesns  went  up  to  Jerusa- 
tainseasoninto  the  Jem.  Now  there  is  at  Jerusalem, 
bath,  and  troubled  by  the  sheep-market,  a  bath,  which 
the  waters:  whoso- is  called  in  the  Hebrew  tongue  Be- 
ever,  then,  after  the  thesda,  having  five  porches;  in  these 
troubling  ofthewa-  lay  a  great  number  of  impotent  folk, 
ters,first  stepped  in, lof  blind,  halt,  withered;*  and  a  cer- 
was  made  whole  of  tain  man  was  there,t  which  had  an  f  Waiting  for  the 
whatsoeverdisease  infirmity  thirty  and  eight  years,  troubling  of  the 
he  had.  (When  Jesus  saw  him,  &c.  | waters. 

W 


250 


GEOLOGY  OF  SCRIPTURE. 


"  In  the  MS.  in  question,"  says  Mr.  Penn,  "  the  text,  and 
the  marginal  sentences,  though  both  are  in  the  same  uncial 
character,  are  written  by  different  hands  ;  and  it  is  evident, 
from  the  language,  and  from  an  itacism,  perceptible  in  the 
latter,  that  they  are  of  a  date  posterior  to  the  former.  It  is 
equally  manifest,  that  they  were  marginal  notes,  annexed 
with  the  design  of  illustrating  the  popular  superstition, 
under  which  the  infirm  man  was  waiting  at  the  bath :  but,  at 
the  same  time,  they  adopt  the  superstition^  and  aver  it  to  he 
true.  The  original  text  was  free  from  that  blemish ;  and  the 
simplicity  and  close  sequence  of  the  recital,  bear  internal 
evidence  that  these  marginal  passages  are  alien  to  it.  The 
superstitious  clause,  therefore,  does  not  pertain  to  the  evan- 
gelical historian,  but  has  become  incorporated  into  his  history 
in  the  progress  of  transcription."    • 

Although  the  passage  we  are  now  to  consider  in  the  second 
chapter  of  Genesis,  in  which  the  descriptive  account  of  the 
situation  of  Paradise  is  found,  has  not  the  advantage  of  so 
clear  and  distinct  an  evidence  of  its  spurious  character,  as 
that  of  St.  John  above  mentioned,  yet  there  does  appear,  in 
the  narration  itself,  the  strongest  internal  evidence  of  the 
11th,  12th,  13th,  and  14th  verses  of  that  chapter,  having 
been,  subsequently^  inserted  into  the  original  text,  in  a  man- 
ner precisely  similar,  from  a  marginal  note,  intended,  by 
some  ignorant  transcriber,  as  an  illustration  of  the  subject. 
When  we  add  to  this  internal  critical  evidence,  the  remark- 
able geological  proofs  of  the  correctness  of  this  view  of  the 
subject,  the  mind  becomes  fully  confirmed  in  this  opinion; 
and  this,  the  only  part  of  the  Inspired  Writings  which  stood 
in  contradiction  to  the  geology  exhibited  in  the  rest,  becomes 
at  once  both  consistent  and  clear. 

It  appears,  therefore,  nearly  certain,  that  the  text  and  gloss 
originally  stood  thus,  as  Mr.  Penn  has  most  ably  shown : — 

Now  the  Lord  God  had  planted  a 
garden  in  Eden  from  the  first ;  and 
there  He  put  the  man  whom  He  had 
formed ;  and  out  of  the  ground  the 
Lord  God  had  made  to  grow  every 
*  The  name  of  the  tree  that  is  pleasant  to  the  sight  and 
first  is  Pison:  that  good  for  food:  the  tree  of  life,  also, 
in  the  midst  of  the  garden,  and  the 


is  it  which  compas 
seth  the  whole  land 
of  Havilah,  where 
there  is  gold;  and 
the  goldof  that  land 
is  good;  and  there 
is  bdellium,  and  the 
onyx  stone:  and  the 
name  of  the  second 


tree  of  knowledge  of  good  and  evil. 
And  a  river  went  out  of  Eden,  for 
(or  after)  watering  the  garden,  but 
thence  (above)  it  was  parted,  and 
divided  into  four  heads(or  sources) 
And  the  Lord  God  took  the  man,  and 
put  him  into  the  garden  of  Eden,  to 
dress  it,  and  to  keep  it,  &c.  &.c. 


is  Gisho7i:  the  same 
is  it  that  encwnpas- 
spth  the  whole  land 
ofEthiopia:andthe 
uameof  the  third  is 
Hiddekel :  that  is 
it  which  goeth  in 
front  of  Assyria; 
and  the  fourth  riv- 
er is  Euphrates. 


GEOLOGY  OF  SCRIPTURE.  251 

"That the  illustration,  intended  by  the  gloss,  is  unskilful, 
and  does  not  answer  to  the  text,  is  manifest;  for  the  text 
mentions  only  one  river,  whereas,  the  gloss  undertakes  to 
describe/owr  rivers. 

"  Michaelis  shows,  that  the  original  word,  translated 
heads,  denotes  sources,  in  the  Syriac  and  Arabic  languages ; 
and  he  expressly  states,  that  it  never  signifies  the  branches  of 
a  river  in  the  Oriental  tongues.  Thus,  the  final  confluence 
of  four  contributary  streams,  from  the  four  sources  or  heads, 
to  which  the  historian  traces  them  in  Eden,  produced  one 
river,  discharging  itself  out  of  Eden,  of  which  he  speaks  ; 
which  four  heads,  therefore,  can  have  no  relation  to  the  four 
rivers  recited  by  the  scholiast  in  the  gloss  ;  because,  no  river 
separates  itself  into  different  rivers  downwards  ;  on  the  con- 
trary, it  is  the  nature  of  all  rivers  to  grow  by  confluence." 

Mr.  Granville  Penn  proceeds  thus  : — "  Most  certainly," 
observes  Kennicott,  "  the  closest  attention  should  be  paid,  in 
biblical  investigations,  to  all  such  mistakes  as  introduce  con- 
fusion  and  contradiction.  Neither  of  these  could  have  obtain- 
ed originally ;  and  both  of  them  have  frequently  been  objected 
by  the  advocates  of  infidelity." 

"  But,"  adds  Mr.  Penn,  "  the  case  before  us  exhibits  a  sig- 
nal example  of  that  contradiction  ;  and,  therefore,  of  the  ob- 
vious necessity  of  demanding,  and  therefore  warranting,  the 
critical  interposition  which,  has  here  been  undertaken.  For 
the  destruction  of  the  primitive  earth  is  a  fact  rooted  in  the 
very  substance  of  the  Sacred  Scriptures,  and  spreading  its 
roots  from  the  text  of  Moses  to  that  of  St.  Peter ;  whereas, 
the  contradiction  of  that  fact,  contained  in  the  above  geogra- 
phical gloss,  lies  loosely  and  unrooted  on  the  surface,  and 
only  on  this  particular  point  of  it.  Since,  then,  a  manifest  con- 
tradiction of  the  former  is  produced  by  the  presence  of  the 
latter  ;  and  since  the  one  must,  of  necessity,  give  place  to  the 
other,  it  is  unquestionably  the  office  and  the  duty  of  sound 
and  scrupulous  criticism,  to  demonstrate  the  invalidity  of  the 
latter,  in  order  that  the  important  testimony  of  the  former  may 
stand  unimpaired."* 

Having  now  viewed  this  part  of  our  subject  critically,  we 
may  proceed  to  the  geological  proofs  above  alluded  to,  which 
proofs,  being  altogether  unknown  to  Mr.  Penn,  at  the  time 
his  valuable  work  was  written,  the  judgment  he  has  above 

*  Comp.  Estim.  vol.  ji.  p.  242. 


252  GEOLOGY  OF  SCRIPTURE. 

given  becomes  of  the  greater  value.  Since  the  period  of  his 
publication,  we  have  had  the  advantage  of  perusing  the  de- 
scriptive sketches  of  an  intelligent  traveller  in  the  East, 
whose  remarks,  as  far  as  they  relate  to  our  present  subject, 
are  of  the  greater  consequence,  from  the  circumstance  of  their 
having  been  written  without  any  theory  in  view,  without  any 
geological  knowledge,  or  the  smallest  desire  of  supporting  or 
opposing  any  particular  question. 

The  traveller  I  allude  to  is  Mr.  Buckingham,  who,  in  the 
year  1816,  accompanied  one  of  the  caravans  which  cross  the 
Syrian  desert  from  Aleppo  to  Mousul,  on  the  Tigris,  from 
whence  he  proceeded  to  Bagdad,  on  his  way  to  India.  He 
thus  had  an  opportunity  of  passing  through  the  region  of  Mes- 
opotamia, which  is  bounded  by  the  two  great  rivers,  the  Eu- 
phrates and  the  Tigris  ;  and  by  a  route  across  the  deserts  of 
that  country,  which  had  not  been  passed  by  any  European 
writer  during  nearly  a  century. 

T  shall  now  proceed  to  give  a  few  extracts  from  Mr.  Buck- 
ingham's work,  which  must  throw  the  most  important  light 
upon  the  subject  of  our  present  inquiry;  and  as  the  nature  of 
the  soil  over  which  he  passed  is  mentioned  merely  in  a  casual 
manner,  and  is  altogether  unconnected  with  the  chief  objects 
he  had  in  view,  there  can  be  no  just  cause  for  hesitation  or 
doubt  as  to  the  correctness  of  the  statement. 

He  first  came  upon  the  river  Euphrates,  at  Beer,  where  he 
crossed  it,  and  where  he  considered  its  breadth  to  be  about 
that  of  the  Thames,  in  London. 

"  Its  greatest  depth  did  not  seem  to  be  more  than  ten  or 
twelve  feet.  Its  waters  were  of  a  dull  yellowish  colour,  and 
were  quite  as  turbid  as  those  of  the  Nile ;  though,  as  I  thought, 
much  inferior  to  them  in  sweetness  of  taste.  The  earth  with 
which  it  is  discoloured,  is  much  heavier,  as  it  quickly  sub- 
sided, and  left  a  sediment  in  the  bottom  of  the  cup,  even  while 
drinking;  whereas,  the  waters  of  the  Nile,  from  the  lightness 
of  the  mould,  may  be  drank  without  perceiving  such  deposit, 
if  done  immediately  on  being  taken  from  the  river." 

"  The  town  of  Beer,  which  is  the  Birtha  of  antiquity,  is 
seated  on  the  east  bank  of  the  Euphrates.  The  river  is  here 
about  the  general  breadth  of  the  Nile,  below  the  first  cataract 
to  the  sea,  and  is  at  least  equal  to  the  Thames  at  Blackfriars 
bridge.  The  people  of  Beer  are,  in  general,  aware  of  the 
celebrity  of  their  stream ;  and  think  it  is  the  largest  in  the 
world.   It  still  preserves  its  ancient  name,  with  little  corrup- 


GEOLOGY  OF  SCRIPTURE.  253 

tion,  being  called  by  them  Shat-el-Fraat,  or  tbe  River  of 
Fraat.  It  is  known,  also,  as  one  of  the  four  rivers  of  Paradise ; 
and  the  only  one^  seemingly,  which  has  preserved  its  name.  The 
river  Gihon,  w^liich  is  mentioned,  also,  in  the  Koran,  was 
thought,  by  an  Indian  pilgrim  of  our  party,  to  be  the  Gunga 
of  the  Hindoos ;  and  the  rest  assented  to  its  being  in  the  inner- 
most India.  It  is  true,  that  it  is  said  to  compass  the  whole 
land  of  Ethiopia;  but  Herodotus  speaks  of  Indian  Ethiopians 
in  his  time;  and,  among  early  writers,  the  word  Ethiopia  was 
applied  to  the  country  of  the  black  people  generally." 

We  have  here  another  instance  of  the  error  and  inconsist- 
ency which  is  evident  in  the  descriptive  clause  respecting 
the  rivers  of  Paradise.  The  whole  geography  of  the  Eu- 
phrates is  now  well  known,  and  that  it  runs  into  the  Persian 
Gulf,  after  being,  like  all  other  rivers,  enlarged  by  many 
additions,  of  which  the  Tigris  is  the  most  considerable.  It 
is,  therefore,  both  unnatural  that  it  should  divide  into  large 
rivers,  of  various  diverging  courses  ;  and,  contrary  to  fact,  that 
any  part  of  it  compasseth.the  whole  land  of  either  Indian  or 
African  Ethiopia. 

But  this  idea  of  Mr.  Buckingham,  respecting  Indian  Ethi- 
opia, appears  entirely  without  foundation,  in  as  far  at  least  as 
Scripture  is  concerned. 

Mention  is  very  frequently  made  of  Ethiopia,  and  of  the 
Ethiopians,  in  various  parts  of  the  Old  Testament,  both  in 
the  historical  and  in  the  poetic  books  ;  but  in  no  one  instance 
does  the  term  imply  any  allusion  to  India,  or  to  the  East.  On 
the  contrary,  Egypt,  and  Ethiopia,  are  almost  always  men- 
tioned together,  as  forming  parts  of  the  same  great  African 
continent.* 

*  A  few  instances  from  the  Old  Testament,  in  order  to  show  tliis 
close  connection,  may  here  be  of  use. 

"  Now  it  came  to  pass,  in  the  days  of  Ahasuerus  (this  is  Ahasuerus 
which  reigned  from  India,  even  unto  Ethiopia,  over  127  provinces ;") 
&;c.— Esther  i.  1.  also  viii.  9.  that  is,  from  east  to  Avest,  or  from  the 
most  distant  parts  of  Asia,  even  unto  the  interior  of  Jifrica. 

"  For  I  am  the  Lord  thy  God,  the  Holy  one  of  Israel,  tliy  Saviour ; 
I  gave  Egypt  for  thy  rausom,  Etliiopia  and  Seba  for  thee.  "■ — ^Isaiah 
xliii.  3. 

"Thus  saith  the  Lord,  the  labour  of  Egypt,  and  the  merchandise 
of  Ethiopia,  &c.  shall  come  unto  thee." — ^Isaiah  xlv.  14. 

"  Philistia,  and  Tyre,  with  Ethiopia." — Psalm.  Ixxxii,  4. 

"  Moreover,  the  Lord  stirred  up  against  Jehoran,  the  spirit  of  the 
Philistines,  and  of  the  Arabians,  that  were  near  the  Ethiopians." — 
Chron.  xxi.  16  ;  that  is,  the  Red  Sea  only  dividing  them. 
w  2 


254  GEOLOGY  OF  RCETPTFRE. 

Salust,  in  his  Jugurthine  war,  gives  us  a  very  luminous 
view  of  the  geography  of  Africa,  and  of  its  various  nations,  as 
far  as  both  were  known  in  his  day  ;  and  he  places  Ethiopia 
next  to  "  loca  exusta  solis  ardor ibus,^^  or  the  countries  burnt 
up  by  the  heat  of  the  torrid  zone.  This  same  valuable  histo- 
rian, in  a  fragment  which  has  been  preserved,  tells  us,  "  that 
the  Moors,  a  vain  and  faithless  people,  as  all  Africans  are, 
would  make  us  believe,  that,  beyond  Ethiopia,  there  is  an 
antipodes,  ?i  iust -dnd  amiable  people,  the  manners  and  cus- 
toms of  which  resemble  those  of  the  Persians." 

We  shall  have  occasion,  in  the  next  chapter,  to  notice 
some  customs  amongst  the  Africans  of  the  interior,  which  are 
evidently  derived  from  their  Asiatic  progenitors. 

"  The  banks  of  the  river,  at  Beer,  are  steep  on  both  sides, 
and  of  a  chalky  soil."  "  There  are  Tam\y  perpendicular  cliffs 
within  and  around  it,  in  different  directions ;  in  these  are  many 
large  caves,  and  smaller  grottoes.  They  are  of  a  hard  chalky 
substance,  and  the  cavities  have  furnished  the  materials  for  the 
building  of  the  town.*  The  whole  presents  a  mass  of  glaring 
white,  which  is  painful  to  look  upon  in  the  sun." 

After  leaving  Beer,  and  on  his  way  to  Orfah,  over  a  very 
flat  and  desert  country.  Mr.  Buckingham  proceeds ;  "  we 
were  now  come  into  a  more  uneven  country  than  before ;  the 
height  of  many  of  the  eminences  gave  them  the  character  of 
hills  ;  and  they  were,  throughout,  formed  of  lime-stone  rock, 
of  a  rounded  surface,  and,  generally,  barren.  In  the  valleys 
were  some  few  patches  of  cultivated  ground,  but  the  rest 
was  covered  with  a  long  wild  grass."  We  have  here,  again, 
on  these  extensive  plains,  all  the  outward  form  and  charac- 

"  Ethiopia  and  Egypt  Avere  her  sti'ength,  and  it  was  infinite." — 
Nahum  iii.  8  and  9. 

Moses,  also,  when  residing  in  Egypt,  had  married  an  Ethiopian 
woman. 

"  He  shall  have  power  over  the  treasm'es  of  gold  and  of  silver-,  and 
over  all  the  precious  things  of  Egypt ;  and  the  Lib}' ans  and  the  Ethio- 
pians shall  be  at  his  steps." — Daniel  xi.  42  ;  see  also  the  whole 
of  the  20th  chapter  of  Isaiah.  Besides  these,  many  distinct  instances 
might  be  quoted,  to  show  that  Ethiopia  is  never  alluded  to  in  Scrip- 
ture, but  with  reference  to  a  province  of  Africa  5  and,  consequently, 
thatthei'e  could  be  no  possible  connection  between  any  branch  of  the 
Euphrates  and  that  distant  country. 

*  It  is  highly  probable,  from  the  nature  of  the  secondary  rock  above 
described,  that  these  "  large  caves  and  smaller  grottoes"  were  such 
natural  cavities  as  are  peculiar  to  some  calcareous  formations. 


GEOLOGY  OF  SCRIPTURE.  255 

ter  of  that  chalky  formation,  exposed  to  view  in  tiie  channel 
of  the  Euphrates,  at  Beer. 

On  arriving  at  Orfah,  we  find  a  repetition  of  the  above 
secondary  indic.atio7is^  in  the  following  extract.  In  the  course 
of  a  walk  round  the  outside  wall  of  the  city,  Mr.  Bucking- 
ham remarked,  in  the  construction  of  the  wall,  three  distinct 
periods  of  very  ancient  building.  The  foundation  was  evi- 
dently of  an  extremely  remote  ^period.  "  The  surface  of  the 
blocks  of  stone,"  says  he,  "  was,  in  'general,  much  corroded 
by  the  action  of  the  air;  and,  on  a  close  examination,  I  was 
surprised  to  find  them  mostly  blocks  of  coral  and  sea  shells, 
such  as  are  seen  in  the  cliffs  along  the  shores  of  the  Red  Sea, 
in  a  state  of  decay.  In  some  of  these,  the  substance  seemed 
to  be  a  mass  of  .lime^  in  a  state  of  decomposition,  which 
crumbled  at  the  touch,  into  a  white  salt-like  powder.  In 
others,  the  large  oyster,  with  the  small  queen,  or  fan  shell, 
was  repeatedly  and  distinctly  seen,  with  still  more  numerous 
examples  of  those  smaller  ones,  like  ram's  horns,  so  frequent 
among  the  sands  of  every  sea-beach.  Other  parts,  the  sur- 
fat;es  of  which  had  become  hardened  by  the  action  of  the  air, 
looked  like  coarse  lime-stone,  crossed  by  harder  and  finer 
veins  of  pure  marble.  These  stones  were  all  in  the  original 
structure  of  the  wall,  though,  of  what  age,  it  would  be  diffi- 
cult to  determine.  But  the  nature  of  the  stone  is  well  worthy 
of  remark,  in  a  situation  so  remote  from  any  sea,  and  so 
elevated  above  the  level  of  the  ocean,  beneath  which,  alone, 
it  could  have  been  formed.  I  had  seen  no  such  rocks  in  the 
way  to  Orfah;  though  no  doubt  the  quarries  from  which 
the  stones  were  taken,  are  not  far  remote ;  but,  in  the  neigh- 
bourhood of  Aleppo,  there  are  several  masses  of  hardened 
shells  and  coral,  appearing  above  the  surface  of  the  ground." 

We  find  a  similar  instance  of  secondary  formation  men- 
tioned by  Xenophon,  in  his  Anabasis,  iii=p.  212,who  describes, 
in  the  following  terms,  a  very  large  city,  which  the  Ten 
Thousand  passed  in  their  famous  retreat:  "marching,  the 
rest  of  the  day,  without  disturbance,  they  came  to  the  river 
Tigris,  where  stood  a  large  uninhabited  city,  called  Larissa," 
(probably,  the  Resen,  mentioned  as  a  great  city^  Gen.  x.  12.) 
"  anciently  inhabited  by  the  Modes,  the  walls  of  which  were 
25  feet  broad,  and  100  in  height,  all  built  of  brick,  except  the 
plinth,  which  was  built  of  stones,  and  20  feet  high.     The 


256  GEOLOGY  OF  SCRIPTURE. 

plinth  of  the  wall  was  built  of  polished  stone,  full  of  shells,* 
&c." 

These  very  casual  observations,  on  the  Geology  of  Meso- 
potamia, serve  to  indicate,  in  a  remarkable  manner,  the  gen- 
eral secondary  and  diluvial  nature  of  the  whole  surface  of 
that  eastern  region,  which  is  composed  either  of  secondary 
rocks,  or  diluvial  sands  and  soils  ;  for  the  calcareous  or  chalky 
character  of  the  rocks,  appears  evident  from  the  distinct 
mention  of  the  fossil  sea  shells  contained  in  some  of  the  few 
specimens  to  which  the  traveller's  attention  had  been  attracted. 
The  object,  in  quoting  these  extracts,  is  not  with  the  view  of 
?iny  general  information,  as  to  the  secondary  nature  of  a  great 
part  of  Syria,  and  the  regions  east  of  it ;  as  our  former  gen- 
eral view  of  those  regions  tended  distinctly  to  prove  that  the 
whole  of  that  part  of  the  continent  of  Asia,  with  but  few  ex- 
ceptions, was  of  that  secondary  character.  But  as  the  chalk 
formation  is  here  described  as  forming  a  considerable  part  of 
the  course  of  the  Euphrates,  upon  which  the  primitive  Para- 
dise is  said  to  have  existed,  the  subject  is  thus  brought,  geologi- 
cally,  to  a  positive  issue. 

For  if  it  has  been  satisfactorily  proved,  in  the  course  of 
this  treatise,  that  the  chalk  formation  formed  a  part  of  the 
bed  of  the  antediluvian  ocean,  and  that  the  chalk  basins  of 
geologists  must  have  become  charged  with  their  present  dilu- 
vial contents  at  the  period  of  the  deluge,  it  is  an  inconsistency, 
of  the  most  glaring  kind,  to  look  for  the  site  of  the  primitive 
Paradise  upon  the  surface  of  a  secondary  country,  then  form- 
ing the  bottom  of  the  sea,  as  is  satisfactorily  proved  by  the 
nature  of  its  rocks,  and  by  the  marine  fossils  contained  in 
them  ;  which,  like  all  secondary  formations,  in  other  parts  of 
the  earth,  could  only  have  become  habitable  dry  land,  by  the 
interchange  of  level  between  the  old  lands  and  the  ocean,  at 
the  period  of  the  deluge. 

No  one  can,  therefore,  persist  in  his  search  for  Paradise,  in 
a  country  avowedly  secondary  in  its  rocks,  and  diluvial  in  its 
sandy  deserts,  or  richer  soils,  without  advocating  a  theory  in 

*The  great  pyramid  of  Cheops,  in  Egypt,  stands,  like  the  other 
pyramids  of  that  country,  in  a  plain,  composed  of  calcareous  rock. 
It  is  formed  of  lime-stone,  of  a  grayish  white  colour,  and  Avhich  ex- 
hales a  fetid  odour  when  broken  by  a  smart  blow.  Thus  we  find 
another  instance,  of  one  of  the  earliest  edifices,  of  post-diluvian 
man,  formed  of  a  secondary  rock,  and  standing  on  a  secondary  for- 
mation. 


GEOLOGY  OF  SCRIPTURE.  257 

geology  still  more  inconsistent  and  wild,  than  has  yet  been 
advanced  ;  for  as  we  can  trace,  over  all  these  regions  through 
which  the  Tigris  and  the  Euphrates  flow,  the  same  monu- 
ments of  the  flood,  which  are  so  remarkable  in  every  other 
quarter  of  the  world,  in  the  form  of  boundless  deserts  of 
sand  mixed  with  salt  and  shells,  we  might  as  well  look  for  the 
rich  and  beautiful  regions  of  our  first  parents  in  the  plains  of 
America  or  of  Africa,  as  expect  to  discover  any  trace  of  them 
on  the  banks  of  the  river  Euphrates. 

We  thus  come  to  the  same  point,  geologically,  which  various 
writers  have  before  reached  critically ;  and  we  have,  in  this 
united  evidence,  a  striking  example  of  what  must  ever  hap- 
pen, where  human  reason  interferes  with  the  sublime  and 
consistent  simplicity  of  Divine  Revelation. 


CHAPTER  XV. 


On  the  Creation  of  Mankind. — TTie  Origin  of  Language. — 
WTiat  was  the  Primitive  Language  ? — High  Probability  in 
favour  of  the  Hebrew. — On  the  Diversity  of  Colour  among 
Mankind. — Testimony  of  the  Jews  on  this  Subject. — Origin 
of  the  American  Indians. — Their  traditions  and  Customs. — 
Their  Religious  Belief. — Religious  Rites  in  the  Interior  of 
Africa. — On  Sacrifice. — Traditions  and  Belief  in  the  Friendly 
Islands. — Historical  Evidence  of  a  common  descent  from  Noah. 
— On  the  Identity  of  TVords  among  the  most  distant  Nations. — 
On  the  U7iiversal  use  of  a  Decimal  gradation. — Natural  Infer- 
ence from  all  these  Considerations. 

It  may,  by  some,  be  looked  upon  as  an  inconsistent  and 
uncalled-for  departure  from  the  geological  inquiries  which 
form  the  main  object  of  this  treatise,  to  take,  in  this  place,  a 
rapid  view  of  a  subject  so  apparently  unconnected  with  the 
structure  and  phenomena  of  the  earth,  as  the  languages^  the 
complexions,  the  traditions,  and  the  customs  of  many  of  the 
most  distant  nations.  But  when  we  consider,  that  the  design 
of  thus  tracing  the  history  of  the  earth,  as  recorded  by  inspi- 
ration, is  to  oppose  those  theories  of  philosophy  which  would 
expand  the  well-defined  periods  of  the  Mosaic  history  into 
indefinite  periods,  during  the  long  lapse  of  which,  both  the 
mineral  world,  its  inhabitants,  and  its  languages,  gradually 
became  what  we  now  find  them,  by  the  progress  of  society,  in  the 
one  case,  and  by  the  mere  laws  of  nature  in  the  other,  without 
any  aid  from  a  superior  power;  it  may  be  readily  admitted 
to  be  a  point  of  no  small  importance,  in  corroboration  of  the 
correctness  of  the  views  we  have  taken  of  the  earth,  if  we 


GEOLOGY  OF  SCRIPTURE.  259 

can  discover,  from  an  equally  general  view  of  the  human 
race,  and  of  their  various  languages  and  customs,  decisive 
proof  of  the  recent  creation  of  man,  of  the  still  more  recent 
action  of  the  deluge,  and,  consequently,  of  the  entire  confi- 
dence with  which  we  may  refer  to  the  Mosaic  record,  for  a 
true  account  of  the  early  events  upon  the  earth. 

The  evidence  which  may  be  adduced  of  the  general  origin 
of  all  the  languages  of  the  globe,  when  added  to  the  remark- 
able traditions  of  the  deluge,  which  have  already  been  no- 
ticed, may  serve  to  confirm,  in  sceptical  minds,  the  unerring 
truth  of  the  sacred  volume,  when  it  announces  to  us,  first, 
that  all  mankind  have  sprung  from  one  pair,  created  on  the 
sixth  and  last  day  of  the  creation ;  secondly,  that,  after  up- 
wards of  sixteen  hundred  yeajs  of  increase  over  a  portion  of 
the  then  dry  land,  the  whole  of  that  race  perished  by  an  awful 
judgment  of  the  Almighty,  excepting  one  single  family;  third- 
ly, that  whatever  the  languages  of  the  antediluvian  world  might 
have  been,  that  single  family  had  but  one  individual  lan- 
guage, which  was  handed  dov/n  by  them  to  their  descend- 
ants ;  and,  fourthly,  that  from  the  deluge  to  that  period  in 
which  the  descendants  of  Noah  had  so  far  increased  in  num- 
ber, and  in  wickedness,  as  to  endeavor  to  elude  any  similar 
effect  of  the  divine  wrath,  by  building  the  tower  of  Babel,  in 
the  plains  of  Shinar,  "  the  whole  earth  was  of  one  language, 
and  of  one  speech,"  which  language  was  there  "  confounded," 
or  scattered,  by  the  will  of  the  Almighty ;  so  that  the  people 
were  interrupted  in  their  impious  intention,  and  "  scattered 
abroad,"  in  various  tribes  or  clans,  "  over  the  face  of  the 
whole  earth." 

With  respect  to  the  original  language  which  Moses  de- 
scribes our  first  parents  as  making  use  of,  from  their  very 
first  creation,  we  are  no  where  informed  in  what  manner  they 
first  acquired  it,  nor  how  it  was  communicated  to  them.  It 
is,  indeed,  probable  that  the  inspired  historian  addressed  him- 
self to  those  who  were  much  less  sceptical  on  such  subjects 
than  ourselves ;  and  that  this  remarkable  endowment,  pecu- 
liar to  the  human  race,  and  by  which  they  so  far  excel  all 
other  created  beings,  was  never,  in  early  times,  doubted  as 
having  been  directly  communicated  from  the  same  wise  and 
provident  source  from  whence  the  human  race  itself  had 
arisen ;  and  the  researches  of  the  wisest  and  most  learned 
men  of  all  ages  have  invariably  led  them  to  the  same  natural 
conclusion. 


260  GEOLOGY  OF  SCRIPTURE. 

We  have  no  direct  means  of  positive  knowledge  as  to  what 
relation  the  primitive  language  of  the  earth  may  have  had 
with  existing  tongues  ;  but,  in  the  absence  of  such  evidence, 
we  may  form  some  conjectures  on  the  subject,  which  are  cer- 
tainly marked  with  the  highest  probability.    In  the  first  place, 
we  must  consider  that  the  numbers  of  the  antediluvian  human 
race,  and  their  consequent  divisions  into  nations,  could  not 
have  been  nearly  so  great  as  in  the  present  day,  from  the 
comparatively  short  period  they  had  existed,  and  from  the 
comparatively  unrefined  condition  natural  to  a  primitive  race 
of  beings,  on  whom  the  gift  of  reason  was  obviously  be- 
stowed by  the  Creator,  for  the  purposes  of  exertion,  and  of 
gradual  cultivation   and  improvement.     We  must  not  here 
suppose,  however,  with  too  many  advocates  of  an  erring  phi- 
losophy, that  man  was,  at  first,  naturally  savage,  or  in  the 
state  we  now  find  the  wild  and  uncultivated  natives  of  savage 
countries;  or  that  religion  and  knowledge  were,  in  the  first 
days,  in  the  debased  condition  we  now  too  often  find  them, 
in  the  remote  corners  of  the  earth.     The  savage  state  is  not 
natural  to  man;  but,  on  the  contrary,  is  brought  on  by  erring 
from  the  true  path  of  knowledge,  in  which  both  Adam  and 
Noah  must  have  brought  up   their  first  descendants ;  and 
which,  in  both  instances,  was  communicated  in  a  direct  man- 
ner, from  the  unerring  source  of  every  good  which  mankind 
now  enjoys.    In  considering  the  progressive  stages  of  society, 
we  are  too  apt  to  content  ourselves  with  merely  looking  hack, 
from  our  own  times,  into  the  darker  ages  of  barbarism,  and 
thus  to  form  our  ideas  on  the  false  supposition,  that  the 
primitive  nature  of  man  is  one  of  perfect  ignorance,  and  such 
as  we  now  find  amongst  the  savages  of  Africa  or  America  : 
whereas,  if  we  trace  the  progress  of  society,  in  its  proper  and 
natural  course,  by  descending  from  the  creation,  and  from  the 
deluge,  instead  of  ascending  from  our  own  times,  we  shall  find 
that  the  primitive  state  of  mankind,  even  immediately  after 
the  creation,  was  one  of  intelligence  and  uriderstanding,  if  not 
in  arts  and  sciences,  at  least  on  the  leading  point  of  religion, 
which  is,  of  all  others,  that  in  which  the  savage  falls  most 
short  of  the  civilized  man.     It  pleased  his  Creator  to  bestow 
upon  primitive  man  a  full  and  perfect  conception  of  the  rela- 
tion in  which  he  stood  towards  the  Supreme  Being;  and  it 
was  in  order  to  preserve  a  knowledge  of  the  true  religion 
among  men,  that  a  certain  family  and  race  were  afterwards 
expressly  chosen;  we  find,  accordingly,  that  to  whatever 


GEOLOGY  OF  SCRIPTURE.  261 

State  of  idolatrous  ignorance,  or  savag-e  barbarity,  the  various 
ancient  nations  of  the  earth  were,  from  time  to  time,  reduced, 
there  was  always  some  portion  of  the  world,  and  especially 
of  the  Jewish  race,  which  adhered  to  the  true  faith,  and 
which  was,  consequently,  preserved  from  that  state  of  un- 
natural debasement  from  which  man  has  a  constant  tendency 
and  desire  to  emancipate  himself.  It  is,  therefore,  hig-hly 
probable,  that  as  we  hear  of  no  diversity  of  languag-e  on  the 
earth,  until  after  the  deluge,  the  whole  primitive  race  was 
"  of  one  language,  and  of  one  speech,"  and  that  that  language 
must,  consequently,  have  been  the  same  spoken  by  those  few 
individuals  who  were  preserved  from  the  flood. 

Now,  when  we  consider  the  great  scheme  of  the  Al- 
mighty, foretold  from  time  to  time,  from  the  days  -Of  Adam  to 
those  of  Abraham,  and  continued  from  thence,  in  a  well  de- 
fined course  of  history,  to  our  own  times  ;  when  we  consider 
the  wonderful  and  miraculous  events  that  were  foretold,  and 
were  afterwards  so  literally /if /^//ec?,  in  the  line  of  the  chosen 
people  of  God ;  that,  through  them,  and  through  their  lan- 
guage, the  Inspired  Writings  of  the  early  times,  were  to  be 
for  ever  handed  down  to  the  generations  of  men;  that  of  all 
the  languages  of  the  earth,  the  Hebrew  tongue,  like  the  He- 
brew people,  has  hitherto  withstood  every  change  and  every 
calamity ;  and  been,  like  them,  miraculously  preserved  by  the 
Almighty  will,  for  a  great  and  beneficent  end  ;  and  when  we 
further  consider  the  strong  analogy  and  filiation,  so  easily 
traced,  in  all  the  languages  of  the  earth,  to  the  Hebrew,  as 
the  most  ^xob?i}Q\e post-diluvian  original  tongue ;  when  all  these 
considerations  are  combined,  is  it  unreasonable  to  conclude  to 
the  high  probability  of  the  original  language  of  the  Sacred 
Scriptures  being  the  pure  and  original  tongue  first  communi- 
cated to  man  by  his  Maker  '\  In  considering,  then,  the  language 
of  the  Hebrews  as  the  most  probable  source  from  whence,  all 
other  tongues  have  been  derived ;  and  when  we  trace  in  all 
these  other  tongues,  the  gradual  varieties  that  have  arisen,  and 
are  still  now  proceeding  in  the  dialects  of  the  earth,  by  the 
secondary  causes,  and,  seemingly,  trivial  accidents,  by  which 
the  different  shades  of  language  are  brought  about,  are  we  not 
strongly  reminded  of  the  same  character  which  we  have  traced 
in  the  primitive  and  secondary  formations  of  the  mineral 
world  1  Are  we  not  justified  in  drawing  a  comparison  be- 
tween the  miraculously  preserved  primitive  language,  and  the 
no  less  miraculously  preserved  chosen  people,  who  are  the 

X 


262  GEOLOGY  OF  SCRIPTURE. 

constant  living  miracle^  hearing;  unwilling  witness  to  the  truth 
of  Inspiration,  to  all  the  generations  of  mankind'?  We  are 
reminded,  that  it  was  repeatedly  foretold  in  prophecy,  that 
the  Hebrew  nation  should  be  dispersed  into  all  countries ; 
yet  that  they  should  not  be  swallowed  up  and  lost  amongst 
their  conquerors,  but  should  subsist,  to  the  latest  times,  a 
distinct  people  ;  that,  "  though  God  would  make  an  end  of  the 
nations,  their  oppressors,  He  would  not  make  an  end  of 
them." 

In  the  common  course  of  human  events,  who  has  heard  of, 
or  seen,  so  unusual  a  thing  ^  The  mighty  monarchies  of  As- 
syria, of  Persia,  of  Greece,  and  of  Rome,  have  vanished,  like 
the  shadows  of  the  evening,  or  passed  rapidly  away,  like  the 
shining  meteors  of  the  night.  Their  places  know  them  no 
more  ;  nothing  remains  but  the  great  moral  of  their  tale.  But 
this  chosen  people  of  God,  contemned  by  all  nations,  without 
a  friend  or  protector,  yet  secure  amidst  the  wreck  of  empires, 
oppressed,  persecuted,  harassed  by  edicts,  by  executions,  by 
murders,  and  by  massacres,  has  outlived  the  very  ruins  of 
them  all.  Well  may  we  exclaim,  "  Truly  this  is  the  Lord's 
doing,  and,  therefore,  so  marvellous  in  our  eyes." 

Before,  however,  proceeding  further  with  the  consideration 
of  the  languages  of  the  earth,  it  may  not  be  uninteresting,  or 
uninstructive,  to  make  a  few  observations  on  a  different  sub- 
ject, which,  like  language,  has  given  rise  to  much  theory 
and  hypothesis  amongst  men ;  and  on  which  subject,  the 
same  remarkable  people  may  assist  in  enlightening  us.  I 
mean,  the  varied  colour  of  the  human  race. 

Notwithstanding  all  the  arguments  which  have  been  made  " 
use  of,  and  the  modified  exceptions  which  may  be  produced, 
there  is  no  general  conclusion  m.ore  certain,  than  that  the  com- 
plexions of  men  are  influenced  by  the  temperature  of  the  cli- 
mates they  have  long  inhabited ;  and  that,  in  common  circum- 
stances, the  equatorial  regions,  nearest  the  level  of  the  sea, 
are  inhabited  by  the  darkest  of  the  human  race  ;  while  the 
cooler  temperatures  of  the  earth,  either  from  atmospheric^  or 
polar  elevation,  produce  a  race  of  men,  of  various  degrees  of 
whiteness.  We  must  not,  however,  estimate  the  degree  of 
heat  in  any  climate,  merely  by  its  distance  from  the  equator; 
for  the  climates  of  the  earth  are  most  materially  affected  by  a 
variety  of  circumstances ;  such  as  their  elevation  above  the 
level  of  the  sea;  the  height  of  the  neighbouring  mountains; 
the  comparative  extent  of  land  and  water,  and  the  like.  Thus, 


GEOLOGY  OF  SCRIPTURE.  263 

there  are  no  native  negroes  in  America,  although  the  torrid 
zone  extends  across  that  continent.  But  the  extent  of  its 
neighbouring  oceans,  its  lofty  inountains,  in  many  instances 
covered  vvith  perpetual  snow,  cool  the  scon.diing  breezes  of 
the  torrid  zone,  and  convert  it  into  a  comparatively  temperate 
climate.  The  inhabitants  of  this  New  World  are,  therefore, 
found  to  be  only  of  a  tawnj^,  or  copper-coloured  complexion. 

Bat  the  most  remarkable  instance  of  the  effects  of  climate, 
in  changing  the  colours  of  men,  after  a  certain  period,  may  be 
found  in  the  history  of  the  Jews  ;  that  race,  which  we  know 
were  once  all  of  one  colour,  but  which  are  now  found  dis- 
persed among  the  nations,  and  assuming,  in  every  clime,  the 
varied  tint  of  the  individual  people  amongst  whom  they  dwell, 
without,  however,  having  one  drop  of  blood  in  their  veins  but 
what  has  flowed  in  a  direct  line  from  their  patriarch  Abraham. 
In  Britain,  and  in  more  northern  countries,  they  Tire  fair ,-  in 
Spain,  and  Portugal,  they  are  broivn;  in  Arabia,  and  Egypt, 
they  are  copper-coloured ;  while  in  Abyssinia,  and  in  India, 
they  are  almost  wholly  Mack. 

Dr.  Buchanan,  in  his  Christian  Researches,  in  treating  of 
the  Jews  of  Cochin,  in  India,  says,  "  It  is  only  necessary  to 
look  at  the  countenances  of  the  black  Jews,  to  be  satisfied  that 
their  ancestors  must  have  arrived  in  India  many  ages  before 
those  of  the  white  Jews.  Their  Hindoo  complexions,  and 
their  imperfect  resemblance  to  the  European  Jews,  indicate 
that  they  have  become  detached  from  the  parent  stock,  many- 
ages  before  those  of  the  north  and  west." 

Bishop  Heber,  in  his  Journal  in  India,  makes  the  following 
just  and  interesting  observations  on  this  subject.  "  The  In- 
dians consider  fairness  as  a  part  of  beauty,  and  a  proof  of 
noble  blood.  They  do  not  like  to  be  called  black,  and  they 
taunt  the  Abyssinians,  who  are  sometimes  met  with  in  the 
country,  on  the  charcoal  complexion  of  the  Huhshee.  Much 
of  this  taste  has,  probably,  arisen  from  their  country  having 
always  been  a  favourite  theatre  for  adventures  from  Persia, 
Greece,  Tartary,  Turkey,  and  Arabia  :  all  white  men,  and  all, 
in  their  turn,  possessing  themselves  of  wealth  and  power. 
It  is  remarkable,  however,  to  observe,  how  surely  all  these 
classes  of  nnen,  in  a  few  generations,  and  without  any  inter- 
marriage with  the  Hindoos,  assume  the  deep  olive  tint,  little 
less  dark  than  a  Negro,  which  seems  natural  to  the  climate. 
The  Portuguese  natives  form  unions  among  themselves  alone, 
or.,  if  they  can,  with  other  Europeans ;  yet  they  have,  during 


264  GEOLOGY  OF  SCRIPTURE. 

a  three  hundred  years  residence  in  India,  become  as  black  as 
CafFres." — Heher's  Journal,  vol.  i.  p.  54. 

It  is  evident,  therefore,  that  in  the  many  various  shades 
which  mankind  are  found  to  assume  in  different  parts  of  the 
earth,  according-  to  the  different  temperatures  of  climate,  there 
can  be  no  sound  argument  raised  against  a  common  origin 
from  a  parent  stock.  The  varied  colour  of  mankind  appears 
to  be  the  effect  of  a  mere  law  of  nature,  instituted,  no  doubt, 
for  a  beneficial  purpose  by  the  Creator,  which  purpose  may, 
probably,  be  one  day  explained,  like  so  many  other  obscuri- 
ties in  the  wonders  of  creation. 

It  has  been  found  by  Dr.  Franklin,  that  black  transmits 
heat  more  readily  than  any  other  colour;  and  the  subject  has 
since  been  investigated,  and  confirmed,  in  various  conclusive 
experiments,  by  Mr.  Leslie,  and  Count  Rumford.  We  may, 
therefore,  reasonably  conclude,  that  the  dark  colour  of  the 
human  race,  which  is  found  to  increase  in  proportion  to  the 
scorching  influence  of  the  sun,  is  a  wise  provision  of  the  Al- 
mighty, for  cooling  the  fever  of  the  blood,  under  the  intem- 
perate rays  of  a  tropical  climate. 

But  to  return  from  this  digression,  to  the  subject  of  lan- 
guage, which  we  were  before  considering. 

As  recorded  history  cannot  be  looked  for  in  wild  and  savage 
nations,  we  can  only  hope  to  find  some  traces  of  the  origin  of 
such  nations  in  their  traditions,  or  in  their  language.  In  the 
former  of  these,  however,  we  can,  in  general,  only  look  for 
approximations  to  truth  ;  as,  however  sound  their  foundation 
may  originally  have  been,  they  generally  become,  in  a  long 
lapse  of  time,  so  clouded  with  error,  and  obscured  by  the  su- 
perstition which  usually  accompanies  the  ignorance  of  uncivi- 
lized states,  that  even  the  early  histories  of  the  most  polished 
nations  are  unsatisfactory  and  obscure.  ?/Iuch  less  then  can 
we  expect  any  defined  account  of  the  rise  or  progress  of  the 
nations  of  the  New  World,  or  in  the  still  more  distant  parts 
of  the  earth.  All  travellers  in  America,  however,  who  have 
taken  any  notice  of  this  subject,  record  the  tradition,  common 
amongst  many  of  the  tribes  of  that  continent,  with  regard  to 
their  originally  having  come  from  a  great  distance,  and  hav- 
ing been  urged  forward  by  the  advance  of  other  tribes,  in  much 
the  same  manner  as  the  European  states  were  overrun  by 
the  northern  hordes  towards  the  decline  and  fall  of  the  Roman 
empire.  But  whether  these  American  tribes  were  urged  on, 
by  sea  or  by  a  land  communication  with  the  Old  World, 


GEOLOGY  or  SCniPTURE.  265 

towards  the  north,  must  probably  now  remain  for  ever  a  sub- 
ject for  speculation  and  conjecture. 

It  may  be  interesting  in  this  place,  however,  to  make  a  few 
remarks  upon  some  of  the  customs  and  traditions  of  the  In- 
dian tribes  in  America,  which,  in  many  instances,  tend  to  con- 
firm, in  the  most  remarkable  manner,  the  fact  of  their  descent 
from  the  common  parent  stock  in  the  Old  World,  although 
the  manner  of  their  entering- the  American  continent  has  not 
yet  been  in  any  degree,  ascertained.  A  tradition  is  mention- 
ed by  Hunter,  as  common  to  many  of  the  Indian  tribes,  that 
their  ancestors  Avere  forced  to  migrate  from  a  north  or  north- 
east direction,  towards  the  south.  It  has  already  been  remark- 
ed, that  these  Indian  tribes  all  count  their  time,  or  days,  from 
sunset  to  sunset^  in  the  same  manner  as  the  Hebrews,  though 
contrary  to  our  established  customs  in  Europe.  Their.year, 
also,  begins  with  the*  spring,  and  is  divided  into  13  moons.* 
They  relate,  that  the  Great  Spirit  created,  at  first,  one  of  each 
sex,  and  placed  them  on  an  island  in  the  midst  of  the  great 
waters,  which,  as  the  human  race  increased,  was  enlarged,  by 
supernatural  means,  to  the  present  extent  of  the  earth. 
Their  traditions  respecting  the  general  deluge  have  been  al- 
ready noticed.  They  are  a  highly  moral  people,  and  ac- 
knowledge one  supreme,  all-powerful,  and  intelligent  Being, 
called  the  Great  Spirit,  who  created  and  governs  all  things. 
"  They  believe,  in  general,  that  after  the  hunting  grounds  had 
been  formed  and  supplied  with  game.  He  created  the  first  red 
mun  and  ■woman,\  who  were  very  large  in  their  stature,  and 

*This  most  natiu-al  idea  of  beginning  the  circle  of  the  year  with 
the  Spring,  is  highly  interesting,  when  found  to  exist  in  a  savage 
counti*y  like  America. 

The  ancients  were  of  the  same  opinion,  as  Ave  find  from  many 
passages  in  their  Avritings  ;  and  especially  in  those  beautiful  lines  in 
the  second  Georgic,  where  the  Poet  describes  the  effect  of  Spring- 
and  proceeds  thus  : 

Non  alios  prima  crescentis  origine  mundi 
Illuxisse  dies,  aliumve  habuisse  tenorem 
Crediderim  ;  ver  illud  erat,  ver  magnus  agebat 
Orbis,  ethibernis  parcebantflatibus  Euri, 
Cum  primum  lucem  pecudes  hausere,  virumque 
Ferrea  progenies  duris  caput  extulit  arvis, 
Immiss£eque  ferse  silvis,  et  sidera  clceo. — Geor.  2d,  336. 
fit  is  a  circumstance  not  unworthy  of  remark  in  this  place,  that 
the  name  of  our  first  parent  Adam  was  bestowed  upon  him  from  the 
red  eartli,  from  which  he  sprung  5  Adam  having  this  signification  in 
the  Hebrew  tongue. 
X  2 


266  GEOLOGY  OF  SCRIPTURE. 

hvedto  an  exceedingly  old  age,-  that  He  often  held  councils, 
and  smoked  with  thern^  and  gave  them,  laws  to  he  observed;  but 
that,  in  consequence  of  their  disobedience^  He  luithdrew  from, 
and  abandoned  them  to  the  vexations  of  the  Bad  Spirit,  who  has 
since  been  instrumental  to  all  their  degeneracy  and  suffer- 
ings."— Hunter^s  North  America,  p.  214. 

"  By  the  term  Spirit,  the  Indians  have  an  idea  of  a  being 
that  can,  at  pleasure,  be  prese?it,  and  yet  invisible^ 

"  They  have  no  particular  day  set  apart  for  devotion, 
though  they  have  particular  times,  such  as  a  declaration  of 
war,  restoration  of  peace,  the  season  of  the  harvest,  and  the 
new  moons.*  In  general,  however,  a  day  seldom  passes  with 
the  elderly  Indians,  or  others,  who  are  esteemed  wise  and 
good,  in  which  a  blessing  is  not  asked,  or  thanks  returned  to 
the  Giver  of  life;  sometimes  audibly,  but  most  generally 
in  the  devotional  language  of  the  heart."  "  All  their  se- 
rious devotions  are  performed  in  a  standing  position."  "  On 
some  occasions  of  joyous  festivals,  lamps,  constructed  of 
shells,  and  supplied  with  bear's  grease,  and  rush  wicks,  arc 
kept  burning  all  the  preceding  and  following  night.''^  "  In 
all  the  tribes  I  have  visited,  the  belief  of  a  future  state  of 
existence,  and  of  future  rewards  and  punishments,  is  preva- 
lent." 

"  I  have  seen  an  instance,  wherein  a  prophet,  or  priest,  burnt 
tobacco,  and  the  offals  of  the  buffalo,  and  deer,  on  a  kind  of 
altar,  formed  of  stones,  on  a  mound.'''' \ 

In  Lander's  Journal,  to  explore  the  course  of  the  Niger,  in 
Africa,  we  find  the  following  account  of  a  sacrifice  offered 
annually  at  Kiama.  "  This  is  the  eve  of  the  Behum  Salah, 
or  Great  Prayer  Day,  on  which  day,  every  one  here,  who  pos- 
sesses the  means,  is  obliged  to  slaughter  either  a  bullock  or 
a  sheep ;  and  those  who  may  not  have  money  sufficient  to 
procure  a  whole  one,  are  compelled  to  purchase  a  portion  of  the 
latter,  at  least.  The  Mallams  make  a  practice  of  slaughter- 
ing the  sheep  which  may  have  been  their  companion  in  their 
peregrinations  for  the  past  year-;  and  as  soon  as  the  feast  is 
over,  they  procure  another  to  supply  its  place,  and  to  undergo 

*  "  Blow  up  the  trumpet  in  the  new  moon,  in  the  time  appointed, 
on  our  solemn  feast  day. 

"  For  this  is  a  statute  for  Israel,  and  a  law  of  the  God  of  Jacob." — 
Psalm  Ixxxi.  3,  4. 

t  Hunter's  North  America. 


GEOLOGY  OF  SCRIPTURE.  267 

the  same  fate  on  the  following  year."  After  describing  the 
relioious  ceremonies  of  the  day,  Mr.  Lander  proceeds: — 
"  When  the  priest  had  finished,  he  descended  from  the  hillock, 
and,  with  his  assistants,  slaughtered  a  sheep,  which  had  hecn 
hound  and  brought  to  him  for  sacrijice.  The  blood  of  the  ani- 
mal was  caught  in  a  calabash ;  and  the  king,  and  the  most 
devoted  (devout)  of  his  subjects,  washed  their  hands  in  it, 
and  sprinkled  some  on  the  ground." 

The  very  remarkable  analogy  between  this  African  cere- 
mony and  the  Jewish  passover,  and  other  sacred  ordinances, 
is  too  striking  to  require  comment.  Amongst  many  other 
savage  nations,  the  custom  of  an  offering  is  so  common,  that 
a  glass  of  water  is  never  drank,  or  a  morsel  of  food  made  use 
of,  without  a  little  of  it  being  first  thrown  upon  the  ground, 
as  an  offering  to  their  deity  ox  fetish. 

This,  and  many  other  instances  of  sacrijice,  to  be  found 
in  the  best  accounts  of  the  American  and  the  African  savages, 
would  be,  of  themselves,  sufficient  to  prove,  most  distinctly, 
their  descent,  in  both  cases,  from  Adam.  For  it  has  always 
been  admitted,  that  the  ordinance  of  sacrijice  could  have,  in 
no  way,  occurred  to  the  human  mind  butby  a  direct  command 
from  the  Creator,  such  as  must  have  been  given  to  our  first 
parents  themselves ;  and  which,  in  the  case  of  their  two  eldest 
children,  led  to  the  acceptance  of  the  one,  and  the  rejection  of 
the  other,  from  the  presence  and  the  absence  of  belief  or /ai7^ 
in  its  efficacy.  From  Cain  and  Abel,  and  their  descendants, 
we  hear  of  a  continual  course  of  sacrifice,  both  in  the  line  of 
the  true  believers,  and  in  heathen  nations,  down  to  the  times 
of  Christianity;  whence  it  has  been  carried  on,  in  Christian 
countries,  by  the  new  dispensation;  and,  in  the  heathen  na- 
tions, by  the  varied  course  of  blind  superstition,  common  to  a 
state  of  degenerate  man. 

In  Mr.  Mariner's  sketch  of  the  Friendly  Islands,  we  are 
informed,  that  the  savage  of  Tonga  believe  in  gods,  or  su- 
preme beings,  who  have  the  power  of  dispensing  good  and 
evil  to  mankind,  according  to  merit ;  and  that  there  are  also, 
evil  spirits,  or  mischievous  gods,  who  torment  the  wicked,  as 
a  punishment  for  their  deeds.  The  respect  which  they  pay  to 
these  imaginary  beings  is  so  great  and  universal  that  scarcely 
any  instance  is  known  of  direct  impiety,  though  they  consider 
many  things  meritorious  which  we  consider  criminal. 

Their  ideas  of  the  origin  of  the  world  are  so  singular,  and 
so  strong  an  indirect  proof  of  their  original  descent,  that  I 


268  GEOLOGY  OF  SCRIPTl/nE. 

shall  here  mention  them.  They  helieve  that  originally,  there 
was  no  land  above  the  waters  of  the  sea;  but  that  when  one  of 
their  g^ods,  named  Tangaloa,  was  fishing  in  the  ocean,  his  hook 
became  fixed  at  the  bottom;  he  exerted  his  strength,  and 
presently  there  appeared^  above  the  surface  of  the  waters,  several 
points  of  rock,  which  increased  in  number  and  extent,  the 
more  he  drew  his  line.  The  rocky  bottom  of  the  ocean  was 
now  fast  advancing  to  the  surface,  when,  unfortunately,  the 
line  brake,  and  the  Tonga  islands  remain  to  show  the  incom- 
pleteness of  the  operation.  The  earth  thus  brought  to  the 
light  of  day,  soon  became  replete  v,'ith  all  kinds  of  plants 
and  animals,  (such  as  exist  in  an  imaginary  island,  called 
Bolotoo,  or  the  residence  of  the  gods,)  but  they  were  of  an 
inferior  quality,  and  subject  to  decay  and  death.  Tangaloa 
now  sent  two  of  his  sons  to  dwell  in  Tonga,  and  to  divide 
the  land  between  them.  But  one  of  these  sons  was  indus- 
trious, and  the  other  idle,  and  envious  of  his  brother,  whom 
at  length  he  killed.  On  which  his  father  confined  him,  and 
his  race,  to  the  Tonga  islands  for  ever,  to  be  black  in  their 
persons,  and  to  have  bad  canoes ;  while  he  sent  the  children 
of  his  murdered  son  into  a  distant  land,  to  be  white  in  their 
colour,  as  their  minds  were  pure ;  to  be  wise  and  rich,  and  to 
have  axes  and  large  canoes  in  the  greatest  abundance. 

That  this  singular  tradition,  in  these  the  most  remote 
islands  of  the  earth,  must  have  been  handed  down  from  their 
continental  progenitors,  clearly  appears  from  som.e  of  their 
customs,  which  bear  a  close  analogy  to  those  of  ancient 
Asia,  as  well  as  from  some  words  in  their  language,  which 
will  be  afterwards  noticed. 

At  their  funerals,  they  wound  the  head,  and  cut  their  flesh 
with  knives  and  shells,  as  a  testimony  of  respect  to  the 
memory  of  the  dead.  This  is  a  custom  which  we  find  ex- 
pressly forbidden  in  the  19th  chapter  of  Leviticus,  28th  verse. 
"  Ye  shall  not  make  any  cutting  in  your  flesh  for  the  dead, 
nor  print  any  marks  upon  you;  I  am  the  Lord."  The  natives 
of  these  islands  also  practise  circumcision,  a  custom  so  re- 
markable, that  it  could  only  have  been  derived  from  the  very 
ancient  religious  rite,  commanded  at  first  to  Abraham.  They 
also  offer  sacrifices  to  their  gods ;  and,  as  in  other  countries, 
an  INNOCENT  victim,  such  as  a  young  child,  is  considered 
most  likely  to  expiate  sin.  This  sacred  rite,  so  universal  in 
the  world,  and  one  which  unassisted  reason  never  could  have 


GEOLOGY  OF  SCRIPTURE. 


269 


conceived,  is,  of  itself,  sufficient  to  show  the  primitive  descent 
of  these  distant  islanders,  from  the  parent  stock  of  Noah. 

When  we  add  to  these  remarkable  customs  and  traditions, 
the  conclusive  evidence  of  the  common  tradition  of  a  general 
deluge;  and,  also,  the  equally  convincing  proof  to  be  derived 
from  an  almost  identity  of  language  in  many  general  express- 
ions, common  to  all  nations;  we  cannot  resist  the  conclusion 
to  w^hich  w^e  are  led ;  we  must  admit,  that  accident  alone  could 
never  have  produced  such  remarkable  identity;  and,  conse- 
quently, that  the  truth  of  the  Mosaic  record  is  fully  established, 
as  to  the  gradual  descent  of  all  the  present  human  race,  from 
the  one  family  preserved  at  the  deluge. 

It  only  now  remains  for  us,  after  having  thus  found  such 
circumstantial  evidence  of  a  common  descent^  to  consult  the 
most  authentic  history  on  this  interesting  point,  and  we  shall 
find  the  strongest  reason  to  give  up  all  hesitation  or  doubt 
that  may  have  still  lurked  in  our  minds.  The  historian  I  am 
about  to  cite,  is  Josephus,  a  writer,  whose  works  are  of  such 
importance  to  history  in  general,  and  to  Scripture  history  in 
particular,  that  many  have  not  hesitated  to  consider  him  nearly 
in  the  light  of  an  inspired  authority.  Though  this  may  be 
going  too  far,  yet  it  must  be  admitted,  that  this  remarkable 
man,  from  the  uncommon  circumstances  in  which  he  was 
placed,  at  a  period  of  the  Jewish  history,  avowedly  miracu- 
lous; from  his  great  candour,  his  extensive  learning,  and 
admitted  probity,  in  the  difficult  situation  in  which  he  was 
placed,  as  the  intimate  friend  of  the  enemy  of  his  country, 
can  scarcely  be  looked  upon  in  the  light  of  a  common  histo- 
rian. When  we  add  to  these,  his  almost  miraculous  escapes 
from  death,  his  prophetic  dreams,  and  his  luminous  writings, 
preserved  entire,  while  so  many  others,  of  that  period,  have 
been  for  ever  lost,  one  can  scarcely  fail  to  be  convinced  that 
this  man  was  raised  up  by  the  providence  of  God,  for  great 
and  useful  purposes,  which  no  subsequent  writer  could  be 
expected  to  accomplish,  with  a  like  authority. 

This  valuable  historian,  in  taking  a  general  view  of  the 
^rly  history  of  the  world  after  the  deluge,  distinctly  shows 
the  origin  and  names  of  a  large  proportion  of  the  nations 
then  known  to  the  Romans.  He  was  addressing  this  review 
of  the  early  events  on  the  earth,  to  an  enlightened  and  learned 
people,  amongst  whom,  as  the  intimate  friend  of  the  Emperor 
Titus,  he  held  a  high  rank.  He  appears,  in  his  writings 
against  Apion  and  other  Greek  authors,  who  had  attempted 


^70  GEOLOGY  OF  SCRIPTURE. 

to  throw  a  doubt  upon  his  accounts  of  the  early  history  of  the 
Jews,  to  have  had  the  most  full  and  minute  acquaintance  with 
the  whole  range  of  Grecian  and  Egyptian  literature,  and  was, 
therefore,  by  his  equally  intimate  acquaintance  with  the  his- 
tory and  traditions  of  the  Jews  themselves,  perhaps  the  only 
individual  that  can  be  named,  who  was  qualified  to  view  the 
subject  in  a  wide  and  unprejudiced  field. 

Josephus,  then,  in  taking  a  general  view  of  the  early  events 
in  the  post-diluvian  world,  distinctly  shows  the  origin  of 
many  of  the  nations,  then  known  to  the  Greeks  by  other 
names  than  they  originally  had  ;  and  proceeds  thus  : 

"  After  this,  they  were  dispersed  abroad  on  account  of  their 
languages,  and  went  out,  by  colonies,  every  where;  and  each 
colony  took  possession  of  that  land  which  it  lighted  upon, 
and  unto  which  God  led  them,  both  the  inland  and  maritime 
countries.  There  were  some,  also,  who  passed  over  the  sea 
in  ships,  and  inhabited  the  islands ;  and  some  of  these  nations 
do  still  retain  the  denominations  which  were  given  them  by  their 
founders  ;  but  some  have  lost  them  also ;  and  some  have  only 
admitted  certain  changes  in  them,  that  they  might  be  the 
more  intelligible  to  the  inhabitants ;  and  they  were  the  Greeks 
who  became  the  authors  of  such  mutations;  for  when,  in  after 
ages,  they  grew  potent,  they  claimed  to  themselves  the  glory 
of  antiquity,  giving  names  to  the  nations  that  sounded  well  in 
Greeks  that  they  might  be  better  understood  among  them- 
selves; and  setting  agreeable  forms  of  government  over  them, 
as  if  they  were  a  people  derived  from  themselves." — Antiqui- 
ties, book  1st,  chap.  v. 

Without  entering  more  fully  into  the  clear  account  given 
of  the  dispersion  of  mankind,  in  the  6th  chapter  of  the  first 
book  of  the  Antiquities  of  the  Jev/s,  I  shall  here  content 
myself  with  strongly  recommending  its  perusal  to  the  atten- 
tion of  any  one  desirous  of  following  out  this  interesting  sub- 
ject; and  with  referring  to  the  annexed  genealogical  scheme, 
which  comprises  the  whole  information  given  us  by  Jose- 
phus on  this  point;  it  will  clearly  show,  at  a  glance,  th^ 
outline  of  the  first  dispersion  of  mankind  from  Noah.  The 
subsequent  stages,  and  more  minute  ramifications  of  this  vast 
tree,  must  be  traced  out  by  history,  and  by  the  customs,  tra- 
ditions and  languages,  now  existing  among  the  nations. 

We  may  now  proceed  to  the  consideration  of  the  identity 
in  some  parts  of  the  languages  of  various  nations,  before  al- 
luded to ;  but  this  part  of  our  subject  has  been  already  so  ably 


GEOLOGY  OF  SCRIPTURE.  271 

handled  by  Dr.  Mason  Good,  in  his  Book  of  Nature,  that  I 
shall  not  hesitate,  (in  adopting  his  views  of  the  subject,)  to 
present  to  my  readers  an  extract  from  that  most  able  work, 
which  will  place  the  subject  before  them  in  the  clearest  pos- 
sible light. 

"  Articulate  language,"  says  that  able  writer,  "  is  of  two 
kinds,  am/ and /e^i"6/e ,•  the  one,  penned,  or  printed,  ^nd  ad- 
dressed to  the  eye  ;  the  other,  spoken,  and  addressed  to  the 
ear.  Written  language  distinguishes  civilized  rmn  from  savage 
man,  as  speech  distinguishes  man  in  general  from  the  brute 
creation.  It  is  of  so  high  an  antiquity,  that,  like  that  of  the 
voice,  it  has  been  supposed,  by  many  good  and  wise  men,  in 
all  ages,  to  have  been  a  supernatural  gift,  communicated  either 
at  the  creation,  or  upon  some  special  occasion,  not  long  after- 
wards ;  yet  there 'seems  no  satisfactory  ground  for  either  of 
these  opinions. 

"  That  it  was  not  communicated,  like  oral  language,  at  the 
creation  of  mankind,  appears  highly  probable,  because,  first, 
it  by  no  means  possesses  the  universality  which,  under  such 
circumstances,  we  should  have  reason  to  expect,  and  which 
oral  language  actually  displays.  No  tribe,  or  people,  have 
ever  been  found  without  a  tongue,  but  multitudes  without  a 
legible  character ;  and  amongst  the  diiferent  tribes  and  nations 
that  do  possess  it,  it  is  far  from  evincing  that  unity,  or  simi- 
larity in  the  structure  of  its  elements,  which  may  be  traced  in 
those  of  speech,  and  which  must  be  the  natural  result  of  an 
origin  from  one  common  source ;  for  the  system  of  writing, 
among  some  nations,  consists  in  pictures,  or  marks  represent- 
ative of  things  ;  among  others,  in  letters,  or  marks,  symboli- 
cal of  sounds ;  besides,  there  does  not  seem  to  be  the  same 
necessity  for  Divine  interposition  in  the  formation  of  written 
characters,  as  in  that  of  oral  language ;  the  latter  existing,  the 
former  might  be  expected  gradually  to  follow,  in  some  shape 
or  other,  from  that  imitative,  and  inventive  genius  which  be- 
longs to  man,  especially  in  a  civilized  state. 

"  With  respect  to  oral  language,  those  who  have  most  deep- 
ly studied  the  subject  have  generally  come  to  the  conclusion, 
that  nothing  short  of  Divine  Power  could  have  given  rise  to 
so  wonderful  a  gift. 

"  Some  schools  of  philosophy,  indeed,  have  supposed,  that 
man,  when  created,  had  no  greater  gift  of  tongue  than  is  found 
amongst  the  various  kinds  of  brutes  ;  and  that  it  was  only  by 
gradual   steps   in  civilization  that  perfect  language  arose. 


272  GEOLOGY  OF  SCRIPTURE. 

This  is  arguing  upon  the  same  principle  as  the  strange  opin- 
ions of  BufFon,  and  others,  who  derive  the  race  of  man  from 
monkeys,  and  who,  in  exhibiting  the  ourang-outung,  have 
hence  denominated  him  the  satyr,  or  man  of  the  woods. 

"If  the  above  opinion  were  admitted  to  be  just,  we  should 
have  a  right  to  expect  that  the  language  of  a  people  would  al- 
ways be  commensurate  with  their  civilization.  It  so  hap- 
pens, however,  that  although  language,  whatever  be  its  origin, 
is  the  most  difficult  science  in  the  world,  (if  a  science  it  may- 
be called,)  it  is  one  in  which  savages  of  all  kinds  exhibit 
more  proficiency  than  in  any  other.  No  circumnavigator  has 
ever  found  the  inhabitants  of  the  most  distant  islands  deficient 
in  this  respect,  even  where,  in  every  thing  else,  they  were  al- 
most in  a  state  of  nature. 

*'  There  is,  in  all  the  languages  of  the  earth,  a  general 
unity  of  principle,  which  evidently  bespeaks  a  general  unity 
of  origin;  a  family  character  and  likeness,  that  cannot  pos- 
sibly be  the  effect  of  accident.  The  common  divisions,  and 
rules  of  one  language,  are  the  common  divisions  and  rules 
of  the  whole  ;  and  hence,  every  national  grammar  is,  in  a  cer- 
tain sense,  and,  to  a  certain  extent,  an  universal  grammar, 
and  he  who  has  learnt  one  foreign  tongue,  has  imperceptibly 
made  some  progress  towards  a  knowledge  of  other  tongues. 
Diversity  of  language  consists,  not  in  different  sets  of  articu- 
lations, but  only  in  a  difference  in  their  combinations  and  ap- 
plications. No  people  have  ever  been  found  so  barbarous  as 
to  be  without  articulate  sounds  ;  and  no  people  so  refined  and 
fastidious,  as  to  wish  to  add  to  the  common  stock. 

"But  independently  of  an  uniform  circle  of  articulations, 
and  an  uniform  system  of  grammar,  there  is  also  an  uniform 
use  of  the  very  same  terms,  in  a  great  variety  of  languages,  to 
express  the  same  ideas,  which  cannot  possibly  be  accounted 
for,  except  upon  the  principle  of  ojie  common  origiii  and  mother 
tongue.  I  mean,  particularly,  those  kind  of  terms,  which,  un- 
der every  change  of  time,  and  every  variety  of  climate,  or  of 
moral  or  political  fortune,  might  be  most  naturally  expected 
to  remain  immutable ;  as,  for  example,  those  of  family  rela- 
tionship, and  patriarchal  respect,  or  descriptive  of  such  other 
ideas  as  cannot  but  have  occurred  very  generally  to  the  mind, 
as  those  oi  earth,  sky,  death.  Deity,  &c.^^ 

I  do  not  here  propose  following  Dr.  Mason  Good  through 
the  whole  course  of  his  most  interesting  research,  but  shall 


GEOLOGY  OF  SCRIPTURE.  273 

merely  select  a  few  of  the  most  striking  examples,  -which 
must  be  fully  sufficient  for  my  present  general  purpose. 

"In  our  own  language,  the  term  papa,  and  father,  describe 
the  paternal  character,  both  are  as  common  to  the  Greek  lan- 
guage as  our  own,  and  have,  probably,  alike  arisen  from  the 
Hebrew  source ;  and  it  may  fearlessly  be  affirmed,  that  there 
is  scarcely  any  language  or  dialect  in  the  world,  polished  or 
barbarous,  continental  or  insular,  employed  by  blacks  or 
whites,  in  which  the  same  idea  is  not  expressed  by  the  radi- 
cal of  the  one  or  the  other  of  these  terms.  The  term  father 
is  still  found  in  the  Sanscrit,  and  has  decended  to  ourselves, 
as  well  as  to  almost  all  other  nations  in  Europe,  through  the 
medium  of  the  Greek,  Gothic,  and  Latin.  Fapa  is  still  more 
obviously  a  genuine  Hebrew  term,  and  has  a  much  wider 
spread  over  Asia,  Africa,  and  the  most  barbarous  islands  of 
the  Pacific,  extending  from  Egypt  to  Guinea,  and  from  Ben- 
gal to  Sumatra  and  New  Zealand. 

"  The  terms  for  son  are  somewhat  more  numerous  than 
those  for  father,'  but  one  or  other  of  them  may  be  traced  al- 
most as  extensively,  as  may  the  words  brother,  sister,  and 
even  daughter,  which  last,  branching  out,  like  the  term  father, 
from  the  Sanscrit,  extends  northward  as  far  as  Scandinavia. 

"  The  generic  names  for  the  Deity,  are  chiefly  the  three 
following,  M,  or  Mlah,  Theus,  or  Deus,  and  God.  The  first 
is  Hebrew,  the  second  Sanscrit,  the  third  Persian ;  and  be- 
sides these,  there  is  scarcely  a  term  of  any  kind  by  which  the 
Deity  is  disignated  in  any  part  of  the  world,  civilized  or  sa- 
vage. Among  the  barbarians  of  the  Philippine  Islands,  the 
word  is  Allatallah,  obviously  the  God  of  Gods,  or  the  Supreme 
God,  and  it  is  the  very  same  term  in  Sumatra.  In  the  former 
islands,  we  meet  with  the  terms  malahet  for  a  spirit,  which  is 
both  direct  Hebrew  and  Arabic ;  is  and  dua,  one  and  two, 
which  are  Sanscrit  and  Greek;  tanihor,  a  drum,  which  is 
also  Sanscrit ;  and  inferno,  hell,  a  Latin  compound  of  Pelasgic 
or  other  Oriental  origin.  In  the  Friendly,  and  other  clusters 
of  the  Polynesian  Islands,  the  term  for  God  is  Tooa ,-  and  in 
New  Guinea,  or  Papuan,  Dewa,  both  obviously  from  the 
Sanscrit,  whence  Eatooaa,  among  the  former,  is  God  the  Spirit, 
or  the  Divine  Spirit,  ea  meaning  a  spirit  in  these  islands. 
They  also  apply  the  Hebrew  el,  as  the  Pelasgians  and  the 
Greeks  did,  to  deTiotethe  sun;  whence e//a;?,g-€e means  the  sky, 
or  sun's  residence,  and  papa-ellangee,  father  of  the  sky  or 
spirits. 

Y 


274  GEOLOGY  OF  SCRIPTURE. 

"  The  most  common  term  for  fZea^A,  amongst  all  nations,  is, 
nior,  mort,  or  mut.  It  is  mut  in  Hebrew  and  Phoenician;  it 
is  mor,  or  mort,  in  Sanscrit,  Persian,  Greek,  and  Latin ;  it  is 
the  same  in  almost  all  the  European  languages  ;  and  it  was 
with  no  small  astonishment,  the  learned  lately  discovered  that 
it  is  the  same  in  Otaheite,  and  some  other  of  the  Polynesian 
Islands,  in  which  mor-ai  is  well  known  to  signify  a  sepulchre, 
or,  literally,  the  place  orregioii  of  the  dead;  at  meaning  -a.  place 
or  region  in  the  Otaheitan,  precisely  as  it  does  in  Greek  ;  an 
elegant  and  expressive  compound,^which  is,  perhaps,  only  to 
be  equalled  by  the  Hebrew  zalmut,  literally  death  shade,  but, 
in  our  Bibles,  rendered  shadow  of  death. ''^ 

"  Sir,  in  our  own  language,  is  the  common  title  of  respect ; 
and  the  same  term  is  employed,  in  the  same  sense,  through- 
out every  quarter  of  the  globe.  In  Hebrew,  sir,  or  sher,  im- 
ports a  ruler,  or  goverjior;  in  Sanscrit  and  Persian,  it  means 
the  organ  of  the  head  itself;  in  Greek,  it  is  synonymous  with 
Lord;  in  Arabia,  Turkey,  and  amongst  the  Peruvians  in 
South  America,  it  is  employed  as  in  the  Greek ;  and  is  not  es- 
sentially different  in  Spain,  Portugal,  Italy,  and  France.  In 
Germany,  Holland,  and  the  contiguous  countries,  the  s  of  the 
Hebrew  sher,  is  dropped,  and  it  is  converted  into  her. 
_  ^^  3Ian,  in  Hebrew,  occurs  under  the  form  oi  maneh,  a  verb 
signifying  to  discern  or  discriminate,  and,  as  a  noun,  signify- 
ing a  discriminating  being.  In  Sanscrit,  we  have  both  these 
senses.  Hence,  menu,  in  both  Sanscrit  and  ancient  Egyptian, 
means  Adam,  or  iSxo,  first  man,  emphatically  the  man.  Menes 
was  the  first  king  of  Egypt,  and  Minos  the  chief  judge 
amongst  the  Greeks.  Hence,  also,  in  Greek,  men  and  menos, 
signifying  mind,  and  the  Latin  mens,  the  mind,  is  the  same. 
In  the  Gothic,  and  in.  all  the  northern  dialects  of  Europe,  man 
imports  the  same  idea  as  in  our  own  tongue.  In  Bengal  and 
Hindostan,  it  is  manshee ;  in  the  Malayan,  manizu ;  in  Japan- 
ese, manio ;  in  Atooi,.and  in  the  Sandwich  islands  generally, 
tane,  tanato,  or  tarigi,  while  manawe  imports  the  mind  or  spirit ; 
and  in  New  Guinea,  or  Papuan,  it  is  sonaman.  In  this  ut- 
most extremity  of  the  southern  world,  we  also  meet  with  the 
term  Sytan,  for  Satan,  or  the  source  of  evil;  and  Wath  (Ger- 
man Goth,)  for  God.     But  it  may  perhaps  be  observed,  that, 

*  In  Otaheite,  the  natives  direct  their  voyages*by  the  sun,  moon, 
and  stars  ;  and  they  have  names  for  many  of  the  constellations,  re- 
sembling, in  several  instances,  tliose  of  the  Greeks. 


GEOLOGY  OF  SCIIIPTURE. 


275 


in  all  the  southern  dialects  of  Europe,  we  meet  with  no  such 
term  as  man^  nor  even  in  the  Latin,  from  which  so  many  Eu- 
ropean languages  are  derived,  and  which  has  liomo  for  man. 
Yet,  it  is  clear,  that  homo  itself  is  derived  from  the  common 
root.  Its  adjective  is  ku-man-ics,  human,  while  7na7i,  or  mm, 
is  found  in  every  inflection  below  the  nominative  case,  as  ho- 
mi?i-is,  &c. :  the  former  nominative  itself  was  ho-men^^  from 
whence  it  is  clear  that  ho  is  redundant,  and  did  not  originally 
belong  to  the  word.  The  negative  of  homo  is  ne-homo^  now 
pronounced  nemo  in  the  Latin  ;  in  which  latter  the  ho  has  been 
dropped.  The  ho  is  also  omitted  in  the  feminine  of  homo, 
which  is  fe-min-a,  and  was,  at  first,  feo  min-a,  from/eo,  to 
produce;  literally,  the  producer  of  man  or  min,  From/eo- 
min-a,  we  have  also  our  own,  and  the  common  Saxon  term 
%vo-man,  the  /,  and  y,  or  w,  being  convertible  letters  in  all 
languages,  of  which  we  have  a  familiar  instance  in  the  words 
vater  ?ind  father,  in  German,  and  English." 

All  the  above  cases,  and  many  more  that  might  be  pro- 
duced, are  confederating  proofs,  that  the  various  languages 
and  dialects  that  are  now,  or  ever  have  been  spoken,  have 
originated  from  one  common  source ;  and  that  the  various 
nations  that  now  exist,  or  ever  have  existed  since  the  deluge, 
have  originated  from  one  common  cradle  or  quarter  of  the 
world ;  and  that  that  quarter  was  an  eastern  region,  as  we 
might,  a  ^r/or/,  have  supposed,  from  Asia  having  been  the 
first  land  peopled  after  the  flood. 

"But  besides  this  singular  coincidence  in  language,  over 
the  whole  inhabited  earth,  there  is,  also,  a  most  remarkable 
confirmation  of  the  same  unity  of  origin,  in  the  correspondence 
between  all  nations  whatever,  where  any  traces  of  the  art  of 
arithmetic  exist,  in  the  employment  of  a  decimal  gradation. 

"  Whence  comes  it  to  pass,  that  blacks  and  whites,  in  every 
quarter,  the  savage  and  the  civilized,-  wherever  a  human 
community  has  been  found,  have  neither  stopped  short  of,  nor 
exceeded  a  series  of  ten  in  their  calculations  ;  and  that  as  soon 
as  they  have  reached  this  number,  they  have,  uniformly, 
begun  a  second  series  with  the  first  unit  in  the  scale,  as  one 
ten,  two  ten,  &c.  ]  Why  have  not  some  nations  broke  off  at 
Jive,  or  others  proceeded  io  fifteen  before  they  began  a  second 
series  ?  Or  why  have  the  generality  of  them  had  any  thing 
more  than  one  single  and  infinitesimal  series,  and  conse- 
quently, a  new  name  for  every  unit  ?  Such  an  universality 
cannot  possibly  have  existed,  except  from  a  like  universality 


276 


GEOLOGY  OF  SCRIPTURE. 


of  cause;  and  we  have,  in  this  single  instance  alone,  a  proof 
equal  to  mathematical  demonstration,  that  the  different  lan- 
guag-es  into  which  it  enters,  and  of  which  it  forms  so  promi- 
nent a  feature,  must,  assuredly,  have  originated  not  from 
accident,  at  different  times,  and  in  different  places,  but  from 
direct  determination  and  design,  at  the  same  time,  and  in  the 
same  place  ,-  that  it  must  be  the  result  of  one  grand,  compre- 
hensive, and  original  system.  Such  system  could  not  have 
been  of  human  invention  :  what  then  remains  for  us,  but  to 
confess  that  it  must  have  been  of  Divine  and  Supernatural 
communication  1 

"  Such  examples,  though  few,  are  abundantly  sufficient  to 
establish  the  point ;  and  they  even  lead  us  to  a  second  and 
catenating  fact,  namely,  that  the  primary  and  original  language 
of  man,  that  language  divinely  and  supernaturally  communi- 
cated to  him,  in  the  early  ages  of  the  world,  has  been  broken  up^ 
confounded,  and  scattered,  in  various  fragments,  over  every  part 
of  the  habitable  globe ;  that  the  same  sort  of  disruption  that 
has  confounded  former  continents  and  oceans,  and  inter- 
mingled the  productions  natural  to  different  hemispheres  and 
latitudes,  this  same  Power  has  assaulted  the  world's  prime- 
val tongue,  has  overwhelmed  a  great  part  of  it,  wrecked  the 
remainder  on  distant  and  opposite  shores,  and  turned  up  new 
materials  out  of  the  general  convulsion :  and  if  it  were  possi- 
ble for  us  to  meet  with  an  ancient  historical  record,  which 
professed  to  contain  a  plain  and  simple  statement  of  such 
supernatural  communication,  and  such  subsequent  confusion 
of  tongues,  it  would  be  a  book,  which,  independently  of  any 
other  information,  would  be  amply  entitled  to  our  attention, 
for  it  would  thus  bear  an  index  of  commanding  authority  on  its 
own  forehead. 

"  Such  a  book  is  now  in  our  hands.  Let  us  prize  it,  for  it 
must  be  the  Word  of  God,  as  it  bears  the  direct  stamp  and 
testimony  of  His  works."* 

*  The  Book  of  Nature,  by  Dr.  Mason  Good. 


CONCLUSIONS 

Tb  which  we  are  naturally  led  hy  the  general  tenor  of  the  fore- 
going inquiry. 

Having  completed  the  proposed  general  survey  of  the  sys- 
tem of  geological  phenomena,  on  every  part  of  the  earth's 
surface,  let  us  now  take  a  retrospective  view  of  the  various  con- 
clusions to  which  we  have  been  led,  in  regarding  the  Crea- 
tion, and  the  laws  to  which  all  created  beings  have  been 
submitted  by  the  Almighty.  And,  first,  we  have  found  it 
unreasonable,  and  unphilosophical,  to  subscribe  to  the  doc- 
trines, too  commonly  taught,  wherein  the  first  production  of 
all  things  is  supposed  to  have  arisen  by  the  mere  laws  of  na- 
ture, or  from  secondary  causes,  ivithln  a  chaotic  or  imperfect 
mass ;  because,  in  adopting  this  opinion,  we  find  ourselves  as 
far  removed  as  ever  from  the  origin  of  things  of  which  we 
were  in  search  :  for  even  were  we  to  admit,  with  the  Wer- 
nerian  school  of  philosophy,  the  primary  existence  of  an 
aqueous  chaos,  and  that  the  laivs  of  nature  have,  in  an  indefi- 
nitely long  period  of  time,  gradually  produced  the  beautiful 
order  and  arrangement  we  now  admire  in  the  universe ;  we 
should  still  have  to  account  for  the  component  parts  of  that 
chaotic  mass,  lohich  could  not  have  come  into  being  hy  any  of 
the  known  laws  of  nature  :  and  being  thus  driven  to  acknow- 
ledge a  Creative  Power,  capable  of  producing  even  a  chaos 
out  of  nothing,  and  of  establishing  those  wonderful  laws  which 
now  govern  the  world,  we  should  find  ourselves,  without  any 
available  object,  derogating  from  the  Wisdom  and  Power  of 
a  Creator,  by  denying  a  perfect  creation  of  all  things  in  the 
beginning.  If  we  are  forced  to  this  conclusion,  with  regard 
to  the  actual  structure  of  the  mineral  body  of  the  earth,  we 
are  even  more  forcibly  convinced  of  this  great  truth,  by  a 
Y  2 


278  GEOLOGY  OF  SCRIPTUllE. 

survey  of  the  animal  and  vegetable  world  with  which  it  is  fur- 
nished. For  when  we  consider  the  evident  design^  which  is 
so  remarkably  displayed  in  the  structure  of  these  bodies,  we 
must  feel  satisfied,  that  though  the  laws  of  nature  may,  and 
do,  How  regulate  them,  they  never  could  have,  at  first,  /^ro- 
duced  them.  We  have  found,  that  as  it  is  unreasonable  to  sup- 
pose the  first  man  to  have  ever  been  an  infant,  or  the  first  oak 
tree  to  h^ve  sprung  from  an  acorn,  we  are  forced  to  the  adop- 
tion of  the  only  other  alternative  left  for  our  choice  ;  and  we 
must,  therefore,  conclude,  that  both  animal  and  vegetable  pro- 
ductions were,  at  first,  created  in  their  mature  and  perfect 
forms,  and  were  then  submitted  to  those  laws  which  have 
ever  since  been  in  action  in  the  world.  And  when  we  are 
unavoidably  led  thus  far  by  our  reason  alone,  and  when  we 
then  consult  the  only  History  of  the  early  events  of  the  world 
that  is  within  oar  reach,  we  find  this  Record  announcing,  in  the 
most  unequivocal  terms,  that  "  in  the  begining,  God  created 
the  heaven  and  the  earth ;"  ^nd  that,  "in  six  days  He  made 
heaven  and  earth,  the  sea,  and  all  that  in  them  is,  resting  on 
the  seventh  day,  and  hallowing  it,"  as  a  day  of  rest  and  of 
worship  for  all  the  generations  of  men. 

And  with  respect  to  the  nature  and  duration  of  those  six 
days,  so  particularly  defined  in  the  Record,  which  it  pleased 
the  Creator,  for  an  obviously  wise  and  beneficent  end,  to 
occupy  in  this  incompreliensihle  work  of  creation,  we  can  have 
no  reasonable  doubt  that  they  were  such  days  as -are  now, 
and  ever  have  been,  occasioned  hy  one  revolution  of  the  earth 
on  its  axis  ;  first,  because  a  perfect  creation  may  be  as  easily 
the  work  of  one  day,  or  of  one  moment,  as  of  thousands  of 
years  ;  secondly,  because  the  supposed  longer  periods  of  philos- 
ophy, were  only  called  for  in  the  erroneous  idea  of  gradual 
perfection,  from  an  imperfect  creation,  which  idea  we  have 
found  such  reason  altogether  to  condemn ;  and  thirdly,  be- 
cause that  Record,  on  the  evidence  of  which  our  confidence  has 
been  confirmed,  on  the  subject  of  perfect  creation,  has  dis- 
tinctly defined  each  of  these  days  by  its  evening  <m(i  its  morning, 
which  terms,  so  often  repeated,  can  be,  in  no  way,  applicable 
to  the  supposed  indefinite  periods  above  alluded  to. 

Secondly, — We  have  found  reason  to  conclude,  that  the 
first  great  geological  change  which  took  place  after  the 
creation  of  the  solid  mass  of  the  globe,  was  occasioned  by 
that^a^  of  the  Almighty,  on  the  third  day,  by  which  the 
waters,  equally  covering  the  whole  mineral  surface  during 


OEOLOGY  OF  SCRIPTURE.  279 

the  first  and  second  days,  were  "gathered  together  into  one 
place,"  that  the  "  dry  land"  might  appear ;  and  as  this 
"  gathering  together  of  the  waters"  of  the  sea,  could  not  have 
taken  place,  according  to  the  laws  oi gravity  and  o^ fluids,  by 
accumulation,  it  must  have  been  effected  by  a  depression  of  a 
portion  of  the  surface  of  the  earth,  into  which  the  waters 
w-ould  naturally  flow.  This  depression  could  not  have  taken 
place  without  a  partial  derangement  of  a  thin  portion  of  the 
earth's  surface ;  and  from  this  partial  derangement,  acted  upon 
by  the  laws  which  have,  at  all  times,  governed  the  ocean, 
we  derive  the  earliest  secondary  formations,  now  found  rest- 
ing upon  the  primitive  mineral  mass. 

Thirdly, — We  discover  an  adequate  and  reasonable  origin 
for  a  great  portion  of  the  other  secondary  formations,  now 
found  upon  the  earth,  in  the  action,  during  a  period  of  six- 
teen hundred  and  fifty-six  years,  of  those  laws  of  nature,  by 
which  a  constant  removal  of  mineral  debris  is  taking  place, 
from  the  dry  land,  to  the  bed  of  the  ocean:  and  in  considerino- 
the  existing  action  of  those  laws  which  govern  the  waters, 
we  find  a  natural  and  easy  solution  of  the  problem  of  hori- 
zontal strut  iflcation,  and  individual  mineral  arrangement,  which 
has  occasioned  so  many  erroneous  conclusions  in  some  schools 
of  philosophy.    And  we  further  discover  the  most  convincing 
proof  of  the  erroneous  nature  of  the  Wernerian  theory,  of 
primitive  rocks  having  been  formed  in  an  aqueous  chaos,  in  the 
circumstance  oi  uo  primitive  creation,  such  as  granite,  having 
ever  been  discovered  amongst  what  are  denominated  second- 
ary rocks,  although  these  latter  are  known  to  have  arisen  in  the 
self-same  aqueous  medium. 

Fourthly, — We  have  found,  in  considering  the  subject  of  the 
deluge,  that,  as  the  phenomena  presented  to  our  consideration, 
over  every  part  of  the  present  drylands,  correspond  minutely 
with  the  terms  of  the  Mosaic  record,  where  it  informs  us  of 
the  intention  of  the  Almighty  to  destroy  the  antediluvian  dry 
lands,  as  well  as  their  inhabitants ;  that  great  and  awful 
judgment  must  have  been  occasioned  by  the  gradual  inter- 
change of  level  between  the  former  seas  and  lands ;  that  we 
are,  consequently,  now  inhabiting  the  bed  of  the  antediluvian 
ocean ;  and  that  all  the  fossil  remains  of  animals,  or  vegeta- 
bles, now  discovered  in  our  rocks  or  soils,  were  either  era- 
bedded  in  the  course  of  the  gravel  formation  of  the  secondary- 
strata,  under  the  waters  of  the  former  sea,  (as  in  the  case  of 
the  marine  productions  in  chalk,  and  many  other  calcareous 


280  GEOLOGY  or  SCRIPTURE. 

marine  formations,)  or  were  thrown  into  their  present  situa- 
tions by  the  waters  of  the  deluafe,  and  embedded  (as  in  the 
case  of  quadrupeds,  vegetables,  human  beings  and  other  land 
productions^^  in  the  soft  soils  and  strata  so  abundantly  formed 
at  that  eventful  period,  by  the  preternatm-ul  supply  of  mate- 
rials for  secondary  formations. 

Fifthly, — As  it  can  be  plainly  demonstrated,  by  existing 
causes,  and  existing  phenomena,  that  the  animals  and  plants, 
the  fossil  remains  of  which  are  now  found  in  uncongenial 
climates,  could  not  have  existed  in  a  living  state^  where  their 
remains  are  often  now  discovered ;  as  a  general  inundation 
could  not  possibly  take  place  upon  the  globe,  without  the 
entire  destraction  of  animal  life,  and  the  total  overthrow  of 
the  whole  vegetable  kingdom;  as  it  is  a  well-known  law  of 
nature,  that  animal  bodies,  when  destroyed  by  drowning, 
invariably  float  at  one  period  of  their  decomposition ;  and 
that  almost  all  vegetable  substances,  being  specifically  lighter 
than  water,  must  always  come  to  the  surface,  at  least  for  a 
time ;  and  as  such  floating  animal  and  vegetable  bodies  could 
not  but  follow  the  action  of  the  winds,  the  tides,  and,  more 
especially,  the  currents  of  the  then  universal  ocean,  some  of 
which  currents  have,  at  all  times,  a  tendency  from  the  equa- 
torial regions  towards  the  poles ;  from  all  these  several  rea- 
sons, we  cannot  come  to  any  other  rational  conclusion,  but 
that  all  the  fossil  remains  of  land  productions,  over  the  whole 
surface  of  the  present  dry  lands,  became  embedded  in  their 
present  situations  at  the  period  of  the  Mosaic  deluge;  and 
that,  consequently,  the  climates  of  the  earth  have  been,  in  no 
way,  suddenly  changed,  as  some  philosophers  have  thought 
it  necessary  to  suppose;  but  that,  on  the  contrary,  the  ante- 
diluvian animals  and  plants  must  have  been  distributed  over 
the  various  climates  of  the  former  dry  lands,  and  in  nearly 
the  same  latitudes  in  which  similar  existing  species  are  now 
respectively  found. 

Sixthly, — As  we  have  found  the  most  conclusive  proofs, 
that,  amongst  other  animal  fossils,  the  remains  of  the  hiiraan 
race  are  not  unfrequently  found,  although,  in  that  small  nu- 
merical proportion  to  those  of  other  species,  which  the  sacred 
history  would  lead  us  to  expect,  we  must  entirely  reject  those 
doctrines  of  philosophy  which  teach  a  gradual  perfection  in 
the  animal  creation ;  and  which  suppose  that  man  was  not 
yet  created,  at  the  period  when  those  animate,  the  remains  of 
which  we  now  discover,  existed  on  the  earth. 


GEOLOGY  OF  SCRIPTURE. 


281 


Seventhly,— We  feel  our  belief  in  the  Mosaic  record,  of 
all  these  wonderful  events,  strengthened  and  confirmed  by 
the  many  traditional,  and  other  proofs  that  have  been  brought 
forward,  of  all  the  present  human  race,  in  every  climate  of 
the  world,  having  sprung  from  one  family^  and  from  one  pe- 
riod^ which  period  was  that  of  the  Mosaic  deluge ;  and  that  that 
post-diluvian  family  origin  must  have  first  arisen  in  Asia,  is 
proved  by  the  affinity  of  so  many  common  expressions  in  the 
languages  of  even  the- most  remote  islands,  with  the  original 
languages  of  that  portion  of  the  globe. 

Lastly, — As  all  these  conclusions,  to  which  we  have  been 
naturally  led,  in  the  course  of  this  inquiry,  tend  to  corrobo- 
rate, in  the  most  distinct  manner,  the  history  of  the  early 
events  on  the  earth,  as  given  in  the  Mosaic,  and  other  books 
of  Scripture,  our  confidence  in  the  unerring  accuracy  of  these 
records,  is  firmly  established ;  for  by  such  collateral  evidence 
we  should  try  the  veracity  of  any  other  ancient  history  :  but 
when  we  add  to  the  usual  qualifications  of  a  correct  historian, 
the  incomprehensible  guidance  of  divine  inspiration,  so  clearly 
evinced  by  numerous  prophecies  distinctly  fulfilled,  we  feel 
that  the  conclusions  to  which  our  inquiries  have  conducted 
us,  by  the  simple  evidence  of  reason  and  of  facts,  are  only 
such  as  might  have  been  anticipated,  when  we  consider  the 
unerring  source  from  which  this  divine  guidance  or  inspira- 
tion flowed ;  and  that  both  the  events,  and  the  inspired  record 
of  them,  which  has  been  so  wonderfully  preserved  for  our 
information,  are  supernatural  and  divine. 


VALUABLE  WORKS 

PUBLISHED 

BIT   KHV  &  BIBBLE^ 

No.  23  MINOR  STREET. 


MEMORANDA  OF  A  RESIDENCE  AT  THE  COURT  OF 
LONDON.  By  Richaud  Rush,  Envoy  Exti-aordinaiy  and  Minis- 
.  ter  Plenipotentiaiy  from  the  United  States  of  America  ;  from  1817 
to  1825.     Second  edition,  i-evised  and  enlarged. 

TRANSATLANTIC  SKETCHES  ;  comprising  visits  to  the  most 
interesting  scenes  in  North  and  South  America,  and  the  West 
Indies.  With  notes  on  Negro  Slavery  and  Canadian  Emigration. 
By  Capt.  J.  E.  Alexander,  42d  Royal  Highlanders,  F.R.G.S. 
M.R.A.S.     Author  of  Travels  in  Ava,  Persia,  &c. 

MEMOmS  OF  DOCTOR  BURNEY ;  arranged  from  his  own 
Manuscripts,  from  family  papers,  and  from  personal  recollections. 
By  his  Daughter,  Madame  D'Arblat. 

THE  TESTIMONY  OF  NATURE  AND  REVELATION 
TO  THE  BEING,  PERFECTIONS,  AND  GOVERNMENT 
OF  GOD.  By  the  Rev.  Heistrt  Fergus,  Dunfermline.  Author  of 
the  History  of  the  United  States  of  America,  till  the  termination  of 
the  War  of  Independence,  in  Lardner's  Cyclopedia. 

AN  ESSAY  ON  THE  SPIRIT  AND  INFLUENCE  OF 
THE  REFORMATION.  A  .work  which  obtained  the  prize  on 
the  following  question,  proposed  by  the  National  Institute  of 
France  : — "  What  has  been  the  influence  of  reformation  by  Luther, 
on  the  political  situation  of  the  different  states  of  Europe,  and  on 
the  progress  of  knowledge."  By  C.  Villers,  sometime  professor 
of  Philosophy  in  the  University  of  Gottingen.  Translated  tVom 
the  French,  with  an  Introductory  Essay,  by  Samuel  Miller,  D.D., 
Professor  in  the  Theological  Seminary  at  Princeton,  N.  J. 


2  VALUABLE  WORKS 

LETTERS  TO  AN  ANXIOUS  INQUIRER,  designed  to  re- 
lieve the  difficulties  of  a  friend  under  serious  impressions.  By  T. 
Carlton  Heivrt,  D.D.,  late  pastor  of  the  Second  Presbyterian 
Church,  Charleston,  S.  C.  with  an  Introductory  Essay,  (in  which  is 
presented  Dr.  Henry's  Preface  to  his  Letters,  and  his  Life  by  a 
friend).  By  G.  T.  Bedell,  D.D.,  Rector  of  St.  Andrew's  Church, 
Philadelphia. 

A  HARMONY  OF  THE  FOUR  GOSPELS,  founded 
on  the  arrangement  of  the  Harmonia  Evangelica.  By  the  Rev. 
Edward  Greswell,  with  the  practical  reflections  of  Dr.  Dodd- 
ridge. Designed  for  the  use  of  Families  and  Schools,  and  for  pri- 
vate edification.  By  the  Rev.  E.  Bickebsteth,  Rector  of  Watton, 
Herts. 

THE  PROGRESSIVE  EXPERIENCE  OF  THE 
HEART,  under  the  Discipline  of  the  Holy  Gliost,  from  Regeneva- 
tix)n  to  Maturity.     By  Mrs.  Stevens. 

THE  HAPPINESS  OF  THE  BLESSED,  considered 
as  to  the  particulars  of  their  state  ;  their  recognition  of  each  other 
in  that  state  ;  and  its  difference  of  degrees.  To  which  are  added, 
Musings  on  the  Church  and  her  Services.  By  Richabd  Mant, 
D.D.,  M.R.I.A.,  Lord  Bishop  of  Down  and  Connor. 

PAROCHIAL  LECTURES  ON  THE  LAW  AND 
THE  GOSPEL.  By  Stephen  H.  Tyno,  D.D.,  Rector  of  St 
Paul's  Church,  Philadelphia. 

THE  MOTHER'S  FIRST  THOUGHTS.     By  the  au- 

tlior  of  "  Faith's  Telescope. " 

AN  ADDRESS  TO  THE  YOUNG,  on  the  Importance 
of  Religion.  By  John  Foster,  author  of  Essays  on  Decision  of 
Character. 

THE  PIECE  BOOK,  comprising  Choice  Specimens  of 
Poetry  and  Eloquence,  intended  to  be  transcribed  or  committed  to 
memory. 

EXAMPLE,  OR  FAMILY  SCENES. 

*'  Let  your  light  so  shine  before  men,  that  they  may  see  your 
good  works,  and  glorify  your  Father  which  is  in  heaven." 

Matt.  V.  16. 

THE  PHILOSOPHY  OF  A  FUTURE  STATE.  By 
Thomas  Dick,  author  of  the  Christian  Philosopher,  &c. 


PUBLISHED  r>V  KEY  &  BIDDLE.  3 

THE  CHRISTIAN  PHILOSOPHER,  or  the  Connec- 
tion of  Science  and  Philosophy  with  Religion.     By  Thomas  Dick. 

THE  PHILOSOPHY  OF  RELIGION,  or  an  Illustra- 
tion  of  the  Moral  Laws  of  the  Universe.     By  Thomas  Dick. 

THE  IMPROVEMENT  OF  SOCIETY,  by  the  Diffu- 
sion of  Knowledge  :  or  an  Illusti-ation  of  the  advantages  which 
would  result  from  a  general  dissemination  of  rational  and  scientific 
information  among  all  ranks.  Illustrated  with  engravings.  By 
Thomas  Dick,  L.L.D.,  author  of  Philosophy  of  a  Future  State, 
&c.  &c. 

A  UNIVERSAL  HISTORY  OF  CHRISTIAN  MAR- 
TYRDOM ;  from  the  hirth  of  our  Blessed  Saviour  to  the  latest 
period  of  persecution.  Originally  composed  by  the  Rev.  John  Fox, 
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Embellished  with  sixty  fine  engravings. 

THE  RELIGIOUS  SOUVENIR;  A  Christmas,  New 
Year's  and  Birth  Day  Present  for  1834.  Edited  by  G.  T.  Bedell, 
D.D.,  illustrated  with  eight  splendid  steel  engravings. 

MIRIAM,  OR  THE  POWER  OF  TRUTH.  A  Jew- 
ish Tale.    By  the  author  of  Influence. 

COUNSELS  FROM  THE  AGED  TO  THE  YOUNG. 

By  Dr.  Alexander. 

THE  YOUNG  MAN'S  OWN  BOOK ;  A  Manual  of 
Politeness  and  Intellectuallraprovement,  calculated  to  form  the  cha- 
racter on  a  solid  basis,  and  to  insure  respectability  and  success  in 
life. 

THE  YOUNG  LADY'S  OWN  BOOK;  A  Manual 
of  Intellectual  Improvement  and  Moral  Deportment.  By  the 
author  of  the  Young  Man's  Own  Book. 

THE  YOUNG  LADY'S  SUNDAY  BOOK ;  A  Prac- 
tical Manual  of  the  Christian  Duties  of  Piety,  Benevolence,  and 
Self  Government ;  prepared  with  particular  reference  to  the  for- 
mation of  the  Female  Character.  By  the  autlior  of  the  Young 
Lady's  Own  Book,  &c. 

THE  YOUNG  MAN'S  SUNDAY  BOOK;  A  Practi- 
cal Manual  of  the  Christian  Duties  of  Piety,  Benevolence  and  Self 
Government ;  prepared  with  particular  reference  to  the  formation 
of  the  Manly  Character  on  the  basis  of  religious  principle.  By  the 
author  of  the  Young  Lady's  Sunday  Book,  &c. 
Z 


la^EW   WOHKS    IN    PHESS. 


TAYLOR'S  LIFE  OF  COWPER.     Second  Edition. 
AIDS  TO  MENTAL  DEVELOPMENT,   or  Hints  to 

Parents.  Being  a  System  of  Mental  and  Moral  Instruction, 
exemplified  in  Conversations  between  a  Mother  and  her  Children, 
with  an  Address  to  Mothers.     By  a  Lady  of  Philadelphia. 

A  MANUAL  ON  THE  SABBATH  ;  embracing  a  con- 
sideration of  its  Perpetual  Obligation,  Change  of  Day,  Utility  and 
Duties.     By  John  Holmes  A«new,  Professor  of  Languages,  Wash- 

Sgton  College,  Washington,  Pa.     With  an  Introductory  Essay,  by 
r.  Miller,  of  Princeton,  N.  J. 

THE  CLASSICAL  LETTER  WRITER,  consisting 
of  Epistolai'y  Selections,  designed  to  improve  young  Ladies  and 
Gentlemen  in  the  art  of  Letter  Writing,  and  in  those  principles 
which  are  necessary  for  respectability  and  success  in  life.  Witli 
Introductory  Rules  and  Observations  on  Epistolary  Composition. 
By  the  author  of  the  Young  Man's  Own  Book. 

TODD'S  JOHNSON'S  DICTIONARY  OF  THE 
ENGLISH  LANGUAGE.  To  which  is  added  a  copious  Vocabu- 
lary of  Greek,  Latin,  and  Scriptural  proper  names,  divided  into 
syllables,  and  accented  for  pronunciation.  By  Thomas  Rees, 
LL-D.,  F.R.S.A.  The  above  Dictionary  will  make  a  beautiful 
j)ocket  volume,  same  size  of  Young  Man's  Own  Book. 

THE  BEAUTIES  OF  THE  COURT  OF  KING 
CHARLES  THE  SECOND,  Illustrating  the  Diaries  of  Pepys, 
Evelyn,  Clarendon,  and  other  Contemporary  Writers.  With  Me- 
moirs Biographical  and  Critical.  By  Mrs.  Jatviesoj?,  Authoress  of 
Memoirs  of  Loves  of  tlie  Poets,  Lives  of  Female  Sovereigns,  Cha- 
racteristics of  Women,  kc.  Dedicated  by  permission  to  his  Grace 
the  Duke  of  Devonshire. 

THE  SPIRIT  OF  LIFE  ;  A  Poem,  pronounced  before 
the  Franklin  Society  of  Brown  University,  September  3,  1833. 
With  other  Poems.     By  Willis  Gatlord  Clark,  Esq. 

A  DICTIONARY  OF  QUOTATIONS,  from  various 
Authors  in  Ancient  and  Modern  Languages,  with  English  transla- 
tions, and  illustrated  by  remarks  and  explanations.  By  Hugh 
Moore,  Esquire,  to  match  Todd's  Johnson's  and  Walker's  Pocket 
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NEW  WORKS  IN  PRESS.  5 

THE    MANUAL  OF    CLASSICAL   LITERATURE, 

from  the  German  of  John  J.  Eschekburg.  Witli  additions  by 
Professor  Fiske  of  Amherst  College-  This  work  comprises  four 
parts  :  1.  The  Archaeology  of  Greek  and  Roman  Literature  and 
Art.  2.  The  Greek  and  Roman  Classic  Authors-  3-  The  Greek 
and  Roman  Mythology.    4-  The  Greek  and  Roman  Antiquities- 

THE  FAMILY  BOOK ;  A  series  of  Discourses,  with 
Prayers  for  each  Sunday  evening  in  the  year  :  witli  an  Introductory 
Essay-     By  the  Rev.  Johbt  Breckenridge- 

THE  HOME  BOOK  OF  HEALTH  AND  MEDI- 
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